A former Bostonian has been slapped with a six-month prison stretch for her failure to show up and start serving a prior 15-month sentence for passport misuse. Yris Sanchez, 55, threw in the towel and pled guilty to the charges of failing to appear, earning her an additional stint behind bars, the Justice Department announced yesterday. Making matters worse, Sanchez's social media faux pas, showing her seemingly carefree life in the Dominican Republic, tipped off authorities as she flaunted beach jaunts and parties instead of reporting to the slammer as ordered back in 2021.
Initially, Sanchez got a break and managed to dodge immediate imprisonment due to COVID-19; she was permitted to self-report to serve her sentence. The Court even handed her a get-out-of-jail-free card, releasing her on an appearance bond that she later treated like Monopoly money by violating the terms and heading for tropical settings, this all according to Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy, Diplomatic Security Service's top dog in Boston, Matthew O'Brien, and Massachusetts’ U.S. Marshal Brian Kyes. What's more, this stint will saddle up with her initial sentence with three years of supervised release trailing behind.
Judge Denise J. Casper wasn't swayed by the defendant’s globetrotting documented online and doled out the fresh sentence that will see Sanchez potentially deported after her prison term ends. In a less-than-sly move, after Sanchez skipped town, the Court called her bond and demanded a hefty $47,500 in July 2021, a sum she's obliged to cough up.
Assistant U.S. Attorney William F. Abely, who heads up the criminal division, took the reins of the prosecution and ensured that Sanchez's flouting of the judicial order didn't slip through the cracks, despite her almost 20-month stretch of thumbing her nose at the U.S. legal system while abroad.
