Newburgh Woman Stole Veteran-Earmarked Donations: Feds

NEWBURGH, NY — A Hudson Valley resident was accused of stealing from military charities and misrepresenting herself as a Purple Heart recipient.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Wednesday that Sharon Toney-Finch, 43, of Newburgh, was charged with wire fraud, theft of government funds, stolen valor and altering military discharge paperwork.

Prosecutors said that, between July 2019 and September 2023, Toney-Finch engaged in a scheme to defraud donors to her charitable organization by falsely claiming that donations would be spent solely to support homeless military veterans, when she actually spent the funds on personal expenses.

She also falsely claimed that she survived and was injured in a terrorist attack to a vehicle convoy in Iraq in March 2020 and that she is a Purple Heart recipient.

Since at least March 2026, prosecutors said Toney-Finch knowingly obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars in disability benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs by fraudulently representing that, during her military service in Iraq, she sustained combat-related injuries during a mortar attack in February 2010 and a vehicle rollover that happened in March 2010.

Also, since at least August 2021, she falsely claimed that she is a Purple Heart recipient in statements made to donors to her charitable organization, an application to the New York Department of Motor Vehicles to obtain a vanity license plate and an application to the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor to obtain a medallion and recognition on their website.

Toney-Finch also used, possessed and exhibited a military discharge certificate that had been altered to reflect falsely that she is a Purple Heart recipient.

The wire fraud charge carries a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison; theft of government funds, 10 years; stolen valor, one year, and altering military discharge paperwork, one year.