AN elderly woman who tried to purchase a tube of toothpaste from a wholesale in downtown Kingston with a counterfeit $1,000 note was Tuesday sentenced to 40 hours of community service.

Monica Wallace, 69, was sentenced by Parish Judge Simone Maddix Tuesday in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court after she pleaded guilty to possession of and uttering counterfeit notes.

The court heard that Wallace was found with 19 fake $1,000 notes and that she tendered one at a wholesale in downtown Kingston.

Wallace’s attorney, Nicolette Hamilton, who pleaded on her behalf, described Wallace’s action as a “crime of hunger”.

The lawyer told the court that her client is raising two children — one a two-year-old and another who suffers from a disability — and that she was not working because her workplace has closed down.

She also told the court that Wallace has applied to the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) for a sewing machine and her request has been approved, but she is yet to receive the machine.

“… So she is looking for a legal source of income because she wants to make some pillow cases to sell,” Hamilton said, while indicating that Wallace was an honest person.

But the judge did not agree.

“Miss Wallace, for the court to look at you as an honest person this is not the kind of case that should have brought you here,” Judge Maddix said.

“I also note with interest that it’s not something to eat you’re going to buy but a hygiene product,” she added.

The judge then told Wallace that what she did was not a simple act but something that goes further than being dishonest,as her action not only affected the confidence of the business district but members of the public.

Wallace was then ordered to complete 40 hours of community service of light but useful work.

“Use it and reflect and embrace once more the value of honesty,” Judge Maddix advised Wallace.