Bridget Johnson is the biggest thief prosecutors in Kenton County, Kentucky, have ever seen—and, they say, the biggest fool.
The 59-year-old divorced mother of two was sentenced to 15 years in prison this week for wiring nearly $4 million in money from her employer to her online love. But Johnson never saw a penny of the proceeds, or even met her boyfriend. The romance, prosecutors say, was a scam, and Johnson was “the golden goose.”
Johnson met her would-be lover on Match.com in early 2017, prosecutors said. (Match.com is owned by IAC, the parent company of The Daily Beast.)
The mystery man told her he lived just one county away—in Fort Thomas, Kentucky—but was staying in Texas until he closed out a business deal, Kenton County Prosecutor Rob Sanders told The Daily Beast. If he could just get a small loan, he told her, he could wrap things up and be by her side in days. Johnson quickly wired him $6,000.
It was a pattern that repeated itself for months, Sanders said. Johnson’s boyfriend would fly off on business, promising to return if she loaned him just a few thousand dollars. Eventually, Sanders said, Johnson drained both her bank account and 401k of nearly a quarter-million dollars. When that well ran dry, prosecutors say, she turned to her employer.