NORRISTOWN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — An Upper Gwynedd man, who spent 30 years in prison for murder when he was 17 years old, was sentenced on Thursday for stealing tens of thousands of COVID-19 relief dollars three years after he was released on parole.
Vernon Steed, 56, was sentenced to life in prison in 1988 for a murder committed when he was 17. But he was released in 2018 after life sentences for juveniles were ruled unconstitutional.
Three years later, in 2021, Steed and his wife used other people’s information to get $94,875 of COVID-19 rental relief funds.
On Thursday, Steed was sentenced to 11 ½ to 23 months in prison, which is typically the maximum for county jail. He is already in state prison, as he was on parole when the crimes were committed.
“He strives to help people,” said his lawyer, Edward Foster. “He wants to do good. What happened in this situation is very unfortunate, and he accepted responsibility in as much as he could.”
While dozens of people showed up to Steed’s sentencing to support the community work he’s done since his release, Montgomery County prosecutor Gwen Kull said he used his position as a mentor for people battling addiction to get ID information for the forms.
“He used his position within the community and his access to people who were in recovery to take their identities and use their identities to submit fraudulent applications,” she said. “What the commonwealth believes is incongruous in this case is that he was exploiting people and exploiting his position, and that is another reason why the commonwealth was arguing for total confinement.”
Steed was appointed to a volunteer position on the Montgomery County Board of Prisons in 2022 but stepped down three days before charges were filed.
Steed, on Thursday, apologized to the people whose IDs he used, acknowledging that there are no victimless crimes and promising to pay them back when he gets out of prison.
Steed’s wife previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to house arrest.