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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A Kingston business owner has no expectations his former business partner, Judith Marie Cefaly, will repay him and the company hundreds of thousands of dollars she stole for personal use.</p><p>Cefaly, 54, of Bassword Drive, Mountain Top, was before Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Vough on Friday to be sentenced on a felony theft charge, alleging she swindled $750,000 from Shakti Day Spa on Market Street from 2011 to 2017.</p><p>Cefaly entered a guilty plea in February.</p><p>Spa owner Lonny McLaughlin believes Cefaly actually stole $1.2 million within 14 years, including funds designated for health insurance and taxes for the spa&#8217;s 18 employees.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t expect her to repay any restitution, she successfully avoided all the government authorities for six years,&#8221; McLaughlin said. &#8220;She was just ordered to pay $646,000 in restitution for federal taxes so I don&#8217;t think with her current earnings capacity she has any opportunity to meet the federal obligation let alone pay Shakti back.&#8221;</p><p>Cefaly had the chance Friday to apologize to McLaughlin but did not prior to Vough sentencing her to one year, less one day to two years, less two days in jail. She also was awarded work release that may allow her to keep her current job.</p><p>The structure of the sentence allows Cefaly to serve her jail term at the county correctional facility instead of a state prison.</p><p>&#8220;The jail time doesn&#8217;t really satisfy me,&#8221; McLaughlin said. &#8220;I was just in a courtroom with people that are being put in jail for four years and five years for much lesser crimes and she&#8217;s getting off with two years and a work release program. That is not justice for me. She took over one million dollars from people&#8217;s paychecks and from the business and health insurance money. It&#8217;s not justice in my view.&#8221;</p><p>Kingston police detectives charged Cefaly in January 2018 after an investigation of stolen money at the spa. The investigation resulted in Cefaly being charged by the U.S. Attorney&#8217;s Office in Scranton for failure to pay employees&#8217; federal payroll taxes totaling $646,000 from 2011 to 2016.</p><p>Cefaly pleaded guilty to the federal charge March 13 and is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court June 17.</p><p><strong>&#8216;I did spend the money&#8217;</strong></p><p>In court Friday, Vough asked Cefaly how she spent the money.</p><p>After fumbling her words, Cefaly said &#8220;granite countertops. I did spend the money.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Granite countertops are more important than the employees&#8217; health insurance?&#8221; Vough said to Cefaly, before imposing the sentence that also includes seven years probation.</p><p>McLaughlin told Vough employees &#8220;learned the hard way&#8221; they didn&#8217;t have health insurance, including an employee who was pregnant.</p><p>McLaughlin said he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in 2011 and was initially given months to live.</p><p>&#8220;I was expected to die,&#8221; McLaughlin said in court. &#8220;My cancer is in remission. It is my thought Judith believed I would die and she would get away with her crimes.&#8221;</p><p>McLaughlin said the financial loss jeopardized the spa&#8217;s employees, who he noted are mostly single mothers, and their families. He said he was forced to sell his home in Minneapolis, Minn., and relocate to Wilkes-Barre, and withdraw a total of $100,000 from his retirement account to pay employees due to Cefaly&#8217;s thefts.</p><p>Despite the embezzlement, McLaughlin said Shakti continues to rebound.</p><p>&#8220;The last two years have been amazing,&#8221; McLaughlin said. &#8220;The single moms that have built this company have rallied. We had the best year last year in the last 14 years. Clients are coming back knowing we are rebuilding the business.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Judith Cefaly is escorted from the Luzerne County Courthouse after she was sentenced to jail on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_Judith-Marie-Cefaly-04052019-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Judith Cefaly is escorted from the Luzerne County Courthouse after she was sentenced to jail on Friday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Ed Lewis | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Ed Lewis</p><p>elewis@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Mountain Top woman gets jail time for embezzling from Kingston spa