Chicago woman guilty of identity theft

A Chicago woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to identity theft after authorities say she tried to withdraw money from an account at a Palatine bank that did not belong to her last September.

A Cook County judge sentenced Debra Fennell, 53, to four years in prison for aggravated identity theft. Fennell had faced up to seven years in prison for the class 2 felony. She received credit for 104 days she has spent in custody since her arrest.

Prosecutors said Fennell presented a withdrawal slip for $7,500 under another woman’s name to a suspicious Wells Fargo Bank teller who notified police about the attempted theft.

Last month in the Maywood courthouse, Fennell pleaded guilty to a separate charge of identity theft stemming from an October 2010 incident, and was sentenced to seven years in prison. The judge ordered her to serve the sentences concurrently, including a three-year sentence she received from a Skokie judge stemming from identity theft charges she picked up in July 2010.

Fennell must serve at least 50 percent of her sentence before she is eligible for parole.