LONGVIEW — A woman who says she didn’t realize what she was doing when she accepted money from people who thought they were buying puppies, then forwarded that money to someone she met online, has entered a modified guilty plea.
Vickie Lynn Huff, 55, entered the plea Wednesday in Cowlitz County Superior Court. Judge Stephen Warning said he was “having a hard time with the notion that she was so credulous.”
Late last year, Huff told The Daily News of Longview that a man she knew as “Melvis,” of Lagos, Nigeria, took out newspaper advertisements offering purebred puppies for sale and giving her name as the contact.
Customers from around the country sent money to her, expecting to receive dogs. Huff admitted cashing the checks and wiring the funds to Melvis but said she thought the money was intended for support of an orphanage in Nigeria.
No puppies were sent or refunds made. Instead, the prospective buyers were told the puppies had come to a sad end or that shipping problems would require more money.
Under the Alford plea, Huff did not admit guilt but agreed she would likely be convicted if the case went to trial. Six additional forgery counts were dismissed in a plea agreement with prosecutors.
“My client did what the charges say … but she didn’t really understand what she was doing,” said her lawyer, Richard Suryan. “She was kind of duped by a person in Nigeria.”
Warning told Suryan to provide information to show Huff was duped before she is sentenced Oct. 24. Prosecutors are recommending a 30-day jail term and full restitution to all victims, below the standard sentencing range of a year and two months to a year and a half in prison.
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