A former Army specialist at the center of a veterans charity scam is heading to federal prison after admitting to a long-running fraud and falsely claiming Purple Heart status.
According to the Times Union, Sharon Toney-Finch, founder of a nonprofit claiming to support homeless veterans, was sentenced to more than a year in prison for wire fraud and making false claims about her military service to solicit donations for personal gain.
The 45-year-old New York resident was sentenced on Tuesday to one year and one day in federal prison. She was also ordered to pay $84,000 in restitution and forfeit $85,000 in connection with the case. Her sentence includes three years of supervised release following her prison term. Judge Vincent Briccetti handed down the sentence after Toney-Finch pleaded guilty in March 2024 to multiple federal charges, including wire fraud and making fraudulent military claims known as stolen valor.
Toney-Finch’s offenses involved her nonprofit, the Yerik Israel Toney Foundation. From July 2019 through September 2023, she misled donors by claiming the organization supported homeless veterans. Instead, according to prosecutors, she used donor funds for her personal expenses, including payments for a luxury vehicle, restaurant and bar bills, and a gym membership.
She also falsely claimed she had received the Purple Heart, a military award reserved for service members wounded or killed in combat. Toney-Finch claimed to have been injured in a terrorist attack in Iraq in 2010 and stated that she was “wounded in action” during an incident near Kalsu, Iraq, on March 10, 2010.
Military Records Contradicted Her Claims
Though she served honorably in the Army from 2006 to 2015 and completed two deployments to Iraq, Army personnel records reviewed by officials in Fort Knox and Arlington showed no indication that she had been awarded a Purple Heart or a Combat Service Badge. Still, she used the false claim repeatedly to solicit support for her foundation and in applications for honors and privileges.
In one instance, Toney-Finch applied for a DMV vanity license plate intended for Purple Heart recipients, providing documentation that could not be verified by the Army. She also submitted a military discharge document, or DD-214, to the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor. Anita Pidala, a representative of the group, later confirmed that the document she provided listed the Purple Heart, but the accuracy of the claims could not be independently validated.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton criticized her actions, stating that her entire scheme was fueled by a lie about her military record. “Sharon Toney-Finch falsely claimed to be a Purple Heart recipient and used her foundation to defraud donors and others induced by that lie,” he said. “Let today’s sentence reaffirm that fraud built on lies about service and sacrifice will carry a heavy price.”
Deception Extended to Publicity Stunt in 2023
Her fraudulent conduct gained national attention in May 2023, when she falsely claimed in media interviews that homeless veterans were displaced from hotels in New York’s Hudson Valley to house migrants. The story appeared in the New York Post but was later debunked by local officials and journalists. Investigations revealed she had recruited men from a nearby Poughkeepsie homeless shelter to pretend they were displaced veterans.
New York State Assemblyman Brian Maher initially supported the story but later denounced it upon learning the facts. Shortly afterward, the State Senate revoked a “women of distinction” award it had given Toney-Finch just one week earlier.
Before that scandal, her foundation had little financial visibility. No annual federal financial filings were recorded for the Yerik Israel Toney Foundation, leading authorities to believe it generated under $50,000 a year in income. The New York State Attorney General’s office began investigating the nonprofit later that year, but passed the matter to federal prosecutors.
Final Apology and Plans to Shut Down the Foundation
As part of her sentencing, Toney-Finch submitted a letter to the court expressing remorse for her conduct. “I am so sorry and wish I could go back and do things over,” she wrote to Judge Briccetti. “I see so much now that I didn’t see before.”
She continued, “My heart is broken over my behavior, crimes, and the lives I have affected, the people I let down, and the community that depended on me. I am ashamed, embarrassed, and feel like I am nothing.” The letter also confirmed she was undergoing mental health treatment and had turned control of her nonprofit over to her mother, who is in the process of shutting it down.
Despite her earlier insistence in interviews that “you cannot fake a DD-214” and questioning the scrutiny she faced, the consequences of her fabrications eventually caught up with her. Her prison sentence marks the end of a complex saga built on fraudulent military claims and exploited goodwill toward veterans.
