TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 22 (UPI) -- A St. Petersburg, Fla., woman drew an eight-month prison term for cigarette lighter test fraud that prosecutors said potentially put children at risk.
U.S. District Judge James Whittemore sentenced Karen Forcade to eight months in prison and eight months of home detention for falsifying parts of 97 safety tests for cigarette lighters from 1994 to 2005, the St. Petersburg Times reported Tuesday.
"I need to say from the deepest part of my heart how sorry I am for what I've done," Forcade said Tuesday before she was sentenced in a federal courtroom in Tampa.
Whittemore also ordered Forcade to serve three years of supervised release and pay a $10,000 fine.
Forcade, 67, of St. Petersburg, pleaded guilty to falsifying test data provided by her company, Youth Research of St. Petersburg, and telling subcontractors to do the same, the Times said. Companies making or distributing lighters in the United States paid Youth Research to have 100 children test each lighter model to ensure that no more than 10 could make it work.
UPI
