La Plata, MD – Things got a little tense Monday, April 25 in the Charles County Circuit Court sentencing hearing of Denise Ann Raley, 48 of Leonardtown.

Visiting Judge C. Philip Nichols Jr. listened patiently as defense attorney Craig Kadish lashed out at Steven Fitzgerald from the law firm of Mudd, Mudd and Fitzgerald during the hearing, when Fitzgerald, one of three victims in a two-and-a-half year theft scheme while Raley was their employee, was testifying.

Fitzgerald was attempting to add more in his answer than Kadish wanted to hear.

“There is no question in front of you right now, sir!” Kadish bellowed at the witness, shouting down his statement.

Raley accepted a plea arrangement from the state’s attorney’s office and was sentenced by Nichols to 90 days after she paid more than $100,000 in restitution.

Charged Feb. 9, 2015, Raley was facing 47 counts ranging from theft-scheme: $100,000-plus, to forgery and counterfeiting private documents from June of 2012 to February of last year when the thefts were discovered.

Fitzgerald testified that Raley “was stealing money from our clients.”

“When we caught her in early 2015, she had made three or four deposits of $10,000 or more,” he said. “She lied to our faces,” he told Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney Jonathan Beattie.

“What she did was unforgiveable,” Fitzgerald added.

Kadish said Raley had paid $100,632 in restitution to the law firm.

He added that his client has been unable to find employment since she was indicted last year.

Fitzgerald said Raley cleverly hid her thefts.

“Settlement sheets would balance,” he explained.

“It’s not a matter of how long or how much,” Beattie told the judge. “Let’s focus on reality. This is not a lapse of judgement. She can’t hide the fact that these checks went to her. She came up with the money to pay restitution, but that does not minimize or diminish what she did.”

“We’re not blaming Mudd, Mudd & Fitzgerald for what she did,” Kadish countered. “We’re not putting them on trial. What she did was wrong.”

Kadish said his client has no previous record, “not even a traffic ticket.”

“If there is one thing we’ve learned in this court, your honor, it’s that good people are capable of bad things,” Beattie noted.

“I haven’t seen anything this sad in a long, long time,” Nichols stated. “Everyone else who has committed this type of crime got substantially more time to serve. My heart goes out to you and your family.”

With that, he sentenced Raley to five years, all but 90 days suspended, and ordered five years of unsupervised probation to follow.

Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com