Janey Sears, 72, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for defrauding a Montgomery County man she met on a dating app of more than $400,000.
A jury found Sears guilty in July of a theft scheme involving more than $100,000, securities fraud and misappropriation of funds by a fiduciary. The jury reached its verdict in 75 minutes.
On Friday, a judge sentenced Sears to 20 years in prison, suspending five years of the sentence. She will serve 15 years, followed by five years of supervised probation after her release. Sears was also ordered to pay nearly $407,000 in restitution in monthly installments of $10,000 after leaving prison.
Sears, who also uses the name JaNay St. Clair, listed herself on LinkedIn as the chief executive of H50 Media, a Washington, D.C., consulting firm. Her profile said she attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, during the 1990s, though she would have been in her late thirties at the time. It also listed studies at Boston University and a master’s degree from a Harvard University extension program. News4 had not verified those credentials.
The victim, who was 50 at the time and worked for the federal government, invited Sears to live in his home after their first meeting in 2019. Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said the relationship was not romantic.
McCarthy said Sears persuaded the man to allow her to invest his money, promising large returns and claiming the funds would be sent to Goldman Sachs to invest in Pfizer stock. Instead, prosecutors said, Sears spent the money.
Financial-forensic investigators found that Sears spent more than $100,000 at casinos, including MGM and Maryland Live. Prosecutors also showed jurors that she bought a 2022 Alfa Romeo Giulia for $55,000.
Sears had faced a maximum sentence of more than 20 years in prison.
