A former bail bonds agent has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison and ordered to pay $163,200 restitution for her role in a bribery scheme.
Prosecutors say the scheme defrauded the city of Wichita of bond forfeiture money and compromised the integrity of its court system.
The scheme involved bribing a former Wichita municipal court officer to alter computerized records so that bond agents didn't have to pay bond forfeitures.
Former bond agent Jessie Garland sobbed Friday as said she was trying to help people because she knew how it felt to be afraid to go to court.
U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten said her narrative touched him.
In a rare move, Marten revised a tentative 30-month sentence for her role in a conspiracy to alter computerized court records.
