GOSHEN – A Town of Newburgh woman was sentenced in Orange County Court on Thursday to six to eight years in state prison followed by five years of post-release supervision after she pled guilty to committing two Town of Newburgh residential burglaries.
Brandi Wickliffe, 46, pled guilty to burglary and offering a false instrument for filing.
It was alleged that she broke into a Town of Newburgh home on January 29, 2020 and stole an X-Box gaming system and later sold in at a store in Poughkeepsie.
On January 31, 2020, Wickliffe allegedly broke into another Town of Newburgh residence where she stole jewelry.
The owners of the two homes did not know one another.
Town of Newburgh Police developed her as a suspect and she later identified herself in surveillance video from the crime as well as in video from the store where she sold the X-Box.
Wickliffe was scheduled to go to trial on March 22 of this year, but on the day before trial, she failed to show up for a scheduled pre-trial conference. She told court staff she had contracted COVID-19 and submitted a report from an urgent care center that purported to show that she had tested positive. It was quickly discovered that the test results were forged and submitted to the court to excuse her absence.
“This defendant’s brazen conduct is as stunning as it is reprehensible,” said District Attorney David Hoovler. “That the defendant would invade the homes of two families for her own benefit is egregious enough. However, that she would compound her crimes by attempting to mislead the court with forged documents is beyond the pale.”
