Elizabeth Roach of Chicago admitted stealing $241,000 from her employer, Andersen Consulting, but asked for leniency because she's a shopaholic. Her lawyer, Jeffrey Steinback, told Federal Judge Matthew F. Kennelly that she once bought a $7,000 belt buckle at Neiman-Marcus, 70 pairs of shoes at one time, and took a shopping trip to London that cost $30,000 and was so addictive that she missed her plane home. Once she got home with her various hauls, she would feel guilty, hide it all from her husband, never wear the clothing, and then sell it to pawn shops for a fraction of its value. Here's the best part, though: the judge bought it! He said that she was using her shopping addiction to "self-medicate" her depression, so he agreed not to send her to jail. Instead she got five years probation, six months of home confinement on weekends, six weeks in a Salvation Army work-release center, and a fine of $3,000. She celebrated at Marshall Field's, but, as a sign of her newfound self-restraint, only visited eight of the ten floors.
August 16, 2002 7:45 AM
