Tracy Russell, a modest workingman from Litchfield earned an immaculate credit score as a welder.
Little did he know, Brenda Jules, the love of his life, would end up stealing a lot more from him than just his heart.
When the soon-to-be husband and wife first met, Russell was taken away by Jules’ beauty, class and poise.
“She was very beautiful and wore expensive clothes and shoes- Gucci and Dior-and had a couple dozen Coach bags,” Russell said. “I was a simple guy and wondered what she saw in me.”
The only thing Jules saw was an opportunity for scandal and theft.
As their relationship deepened, Russell dug himself deeper into a hole. He purchased a brand new home and car, and gave his wife more than $20,000 to pay for an attorney to help her with her father’s estate.
A fake, $90 million estate, which Jules’ told Russell, they would inherit when her father died.
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Two months after they exchanged vows, Russell received calls from several credit card agencies ordering him to pay a minimum on accounts exceeding the $20,000 limit.
Russell had no option. He filed for bankruptcy.
Jules had been stealing money from her husband since the day they met.
“She is a con woman,” Assistant State’s Attorney Dawn Gallo said. “She bamboozled her husband by misrepresenting herself and stole money from him.”
Jules was arrested last September and has been in state custody since. She pleaded guilty to first-degree larceny and accepted a plea deal to serve two years in prison and five years of probation.
At a sentencing hearing on July 2, the court ordered that Jules reimburse the $21,181 she stole from Russell.
Well, whoever said you can’t put a price on love was wrong -- $21,181 sure is a big price to pay for a broken heart.
