A Newburgh woman, Sharon Toney-Finch, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison for wire fraud and stolen valor offenses after falsely claiming to assist homeless veterans and lying about her military record. The sentencing took place before U.S. District Judge Vincent L. Briccetti, who described her actions as “appalling” and “disrespectful to [her] fellow veterans.”
Toney-Finch previously pled guilty in March 2025. United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton stated, “Sharon Toney-Finch falsely claimed to be a Purple Heart recipient and used her foundation to defraud donors and others induced by that lie. Let today’s sentence reaffirm that fraud built on lies about service and sacrifice will carry a heavy price.”
Toney-Finch is an Army veteran and founder of the Yerik Israel Toney Foundation (YIT Foundation), a registered 501(c)(3) charity established in Sullivan County. Although she was honorably discharged with various commendations, she never received a Purple Heart.
The YIT Foundation purportedly aimed to raise awareness about premature births and support families with babies in neonatal intensive care units, while also assisting homeless or low-income veterans. However, authorities found that the foundation provided minimal help to veterans. Instead, Toney-Finch used most donations for personal expenses such as payments on her BMW, gym membership, travel, meals, and other costs.
Investigators revealed that she obtained around $85,000 through fraudulent means. For example, in June 2022 she persuaded a local foundation—focused on supporting charities for veterans—to donate $10,000 under the pretense of building housing for homeless veterans; these funds were instead spent largely on personal luxury items.
In May 2023 Toney-Finch gained national attention when she told media outlets that the YIT Foundation had helped numerous homeless veterans evicted from a Newburgh hotel due to incoming migrants from New York City. This claim led at least one donor to send $25,000 to the foundation; officials later confirmed this story was false.
Throughout her fundraising efforts Toney-Finch regularly misrepresented herself as a decorated war hero by submitting altered discharge documents and publicly claiming Purple Heart status. In September 2021 she submitted doctored paperwork to the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor and participated in a ceremony honoring recipients alongside commissioned officers. She repeated similar claims during public appearances including a video podcast in July 2022 where she detailed an invented account of surviving an IED attack in Iraq.
In addition to imprisonment, Toney-Finch received three years of supervised release and must pay $84,000 restitution plus $85,000 forfeiture.
U.S. Attorney Clayton commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation Hudson Valley White Collar Crime Task Force along with local law enforcement agencies and federal investigators for their work on this case.
The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan W. Allison and Margaret N. Vasu from the Office’s White Plains Division.
