Woman ordered to sell toys to repay ripped-off customers.(News)

Byline: Tony Gordon Daily Herald Legal Affairs Writer

Nancy McKenna is getting back into the business of selling Beanie Babies, only this time it will be under court order.

The 47-year-old Winthrop Harbor woman was told Friday she has 18 months to peddle enough stuffed animals to repay six people who tried to buy them from her in the past.

McKenna was convicted of theft in January because she failed to fill the order or send a refund to a customer of one of her eBay auctions three years after the purchase was made.

McKenna sold Beanie Babies online through 2000 and 2001 and filled thousands of orders, evidence at her trial showed. Complaints about her non-response to paying customers began piling up in late summer 2001.

She was eventually charged with theft, computer fraud and wire fraud in August 2001 after officials estimated McKenna had collected more than $10,000 from people who never received merchandise they bought.

Assistant State's Attorney Patricia Fix asked Associate Judge John Phillips to force McKenna to repay $8,581 to 56 people who attempted to buy Beanie Babies.

Fix said another 30 people had claimed they lost an additional total of $3,816 in trying to do business with McKenna, but were unable to produce documentation.

"We believe that all these victims suffered losses through the same course of conduct that led to the conviction," Fix said. "We think it is possible for the court to order all the victims be made whole."

However, defense attorney Ralph Strathman disagreed, claiming Phillips could order McKenna to repay only $799 to a North Carolina woman named in the theft count.

The other five victims and their losses were cited in the computer fraud and wire fraud counts against McKenna, but Phillips acquitted her of those charges.

Phillips decided the law did not allow him to order all the victims repaid. He did demand full restitution for the six people who were the basis for the original charges.

"The court is torn between what I want to do and what I am authorized to do," he said of the victims left out of his ruling. "I could order them paid, but it would not stand."

He said McKenna, who will receive the hundreds of Beanie Babies police seized at the time of her arrest, would be well advised to make some sort of arrangements to repay everyone with a claim or she would face civil court action.

Enough of the Beanies being returned to McKenna must be sold to pay the restitution, but Phillips said she is barred from selling or buying anything over the Internet.

He also ordered her to serve two years probation, spend 45 days in jail when not working and perform 175 hours of community service.