CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. - Only WINK News cameras are there as a North Port woman is found guilty and sentenced for embezzling tens of thousands of dollars from people living in a Port Charlotte retirement community. Many of the victims she took advantage of were in the courtroom.

This is a day the residents living in the Charlotte Square Condominiums have been waiting for. While Stacey Tuck's scheme wiped many of them out financially, they feel at least today, justice was served.

"The court finds your actions deplorable ma'am," Judge Alane Laboda said to Tuck as the 36 year old awaited her fate.
 
Tuck was arrested in April after investigators found irregularities in condo association bank accounts she managed. They traced $100,000 to Tuck, but the condo association estimates up to $4 million missing.

"She basically forged bank statements so that right up until that last day, everybody thought they had a lot more money than they did," Resident Donald Moore said.

Tuck's scheme devastated the 55 and older community "A lot of foreclosures, people had to pay extra assessment because she cleaned us out," Resident Dolores Humphries said.

Judge Laboda sentenced Tuck to 12 years in prison. She'll also have to pay more than $1 million in restitution.

"You may be losing 12 years of your life, but these people worked their entire lives in order to earn the money, and have the savings that they had, which you recklessly, carelessly, selfishly stole from each one of them," Laboda said.

Tears ran down Tuck's face.

"Crocodile tears, she's got the game down," Humphries said.

But Tuck's attorney says her tears are sincere. "Stacey is deeply remorseful for what happened. If she could change it, she certainly would. She's paying a very high price for it," Tuck's Attorney Donald McFarlane said.

"She knew a lot of these people, they relied on her, they trusted her, they believed in her. That's a terrible legacy for her to live with," Charlotte Square Board President Bob Mohrbacher said.

While people we spoke with were not too optimistic they'll ever see their money again, Tuck's attorney says civil settlements may help them recover at least some. He says, Tuck hopes to send them letters of apology.