Plastic surgery is a hot commodity; high on many “want” lists. And when something is desirable, someone usually finds a way to steal it. 
An English woman named Veronica Hyland will spend at least two years in jail after admitting to 16 charges of theft – including money she stole and used for plastic surgery.
Hyland, who is 50 years old, tucked away more than $150,000 by forging power of attorney during the final days of Les Carrier, an 86-year-old businessman dying of cancer. Les and wife Doris had hired Hyland in April 2008 to help attend to their financial matters during his illness.
According to court findings, Hyland falsified documents that entitled her to enough money to buy an expensive Audi, an iPod, a cell phone and a pair of pedigree pets. And the day after she was arrested on suspicion of this theft, Hyland used about $8,000 to undergo breast reduction surgery.
Within days of registering the misallocated funds, Hyland began spending them on items she wanted. But her actions really only became suspicious when she asked her secretary, Tanya Guest, to shred the power-of-attorney documents that had been tampered. Ordinarily, such documents would be filed. This prompted Guest to send the documents to forgery experts – who determined that Hyland had used copying equipment to forge the signatures.
From there, Hyland’s scheme crumbled, despite protests that the documents were legitimate. She was found finally guilty not only of fraud against the Carriers, but also her own firm, DBL. After suspecting her theft of the elderly couple, investigators discovered that Hyland had also been pocketing funds that clients sent to DBL. And along with handing a jail sentence, the court ordered Hyland to surrender more than $50,000 in assets. The funds went to Doris Carrier as compensation.
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