Shawn M. Coles, 52, former business director of the Footprints of Montgomery food pantry, was sentenced to 11 ½ to 24 months in prison by Lycoming County President Judge Eric Linhardt Friday.

The sentencing came nearly three months after Coles, who formerly went by the last name Gawblick, pleaded guilty to theft by unlawful taking, for stealing more than $40,442 from the nonprofit organization, before former President Judge Nancy Butts.

By pleading guilty to the charge, Coles escaped a possible prison sentence of up to seven years and a $15,000 fine.

In June 2024, Coles, of 56 High St., Montgomery, was hit with felony charges of theft, receiving stolen property and theft by failure to make required disposition for illegally withdrawing $32,894 from the organization’s account between 2021 and 2024, and misappropriating an additional $8,000 of the food pantry’s funds to help her “pay for personal utilities for her home and for her other business, which is a coffee shop in the borough,” an affidavit said.

Coles served as the pantry’s business director from August 2021 until resigning her position in February 2024.

“Any theft by a stranger, or in this case on-going embezzlement, deception, manipulation, and lying is emotionally upsetting and financially impacts the people and community involved,” said a victim impact statement submitted by the pantry and read aloud by Linhardt.

“Shawn, you were not a stranger. You were our friend and in many ways an example of “doing good” in our community. This makes it even more distressing,” the statement began, pointing out that though Coles did accomplish some good, giving out free food from her diner to children during the COVID-19 pandemic, throughout much of that time, she was simultaneously stealing from the pantry.

“After your arrest, you took to social media and played victim and implied a different reality. The amount stolen is not an exaggeration and you did not receive organizational/board approval to withdraw any of the $32,366.00 cash for non-Footprints related expenses or $8,106.86 to use our bank card to pay for your own personal and personal business expenses,” the statement continued.

“We are all volunteers and under your leadership, as our director, between Spring 2021 to February 11, 2024 we were impacted many times by not having the money to purchase enough food,” the statement continued.

“There were so many times you told us that we didn’t have enough funding to buy eggs, milk, canned goods, meat, etc. Now we know why,” the statement said.

As a result of Coles’ actions, including not filing taxes during her time as director, the food pantry temporarily lost their 501C status as well as their part in the TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program), according to the statement.

“We were in jeopardy with other regular and one-off funding because of the broken trust towards Footprints. We have spent significant time rebuilding trust,” the pantry’s statement continued.

Additionally, Coles has not transferred administrative privileges of the pantry’s Facebook page over to the new administrative staff, resulting in those in need signing up under the old page, and families not receiving updated information on distribution and other services, the statement said.

Though Coles promised to repay the stolen funds, she has only contributed $1,000 up to this point, according to the pantry’s statement.

“None of this has been fair to Footprints and the community we serve,” the statement said.

“We will continue to focus on rebuilding trust, helping more families with food insecurities, increasing our donor and volunteer base and in making sure this can never happen again,” it continued.

“Shawn, we have compassion for you and your family. We pray that you know our forgiveness, and that consequences are fair, remorse is felt and restitution can be taken seriously,” the statement concluded.

Coles was immediately remanded to the Lycoming County Prison, and at the conclusion of her confinement, will be subject to a five-year period of probation.