The New York City woman who posed as the aunt of a child killed in the massacre at a Connecticut elementary school in December is seeking probation, arguing she's already been punished by the media.
Nouel Alba, 37, was indicted in May, pleaded guilty after accepting a plea deal and will be sentenced next month on federal wire fraud charges.
In a pre-sentence memorandum filed on Thursday, her lawyer said Alba deserves probation in part because the media has treated her as a "stand-in for the actual perpetrator of the Sandy Hook massacre."
Federal prosecutors are asking that she serve at least a year in prison.
They say that, starting on the day of the shootings, Alba pretended to be the aunt of 6-year-old victim Noah Ponzer on Facebook and raised less than $5,000 by soliciting donations for what she called a "funeral fund."
In one text to a donor, Alba wrote about being in Newtown when President Barack Obama was in town to meet with the families and of how he hugged and cried with the families, according to the complaint.
The donor asked Alba if she was watching the president's speech in person.
She responded: "No im (sic) sitting in my car. Emotionally I cant (sic) deal.with it right now ..tomorrow ill see (redacted) in a casket and that will be hard enough to handle."
She also claimed in a phone conversation to the same donor that she had entered the crime scene to identify her nephew's body after the shooting, according to the complaint.
Family members and next of kin, however, were barred from entering the crime scene at Sandy Hook.
