Ex-Mount Vernon employee sentenced in credit card fraud case

Fraida Hickson, the former Mount Vernon deputy police commissioner who pleaded guilty to credit card fraud in paying for plastic surgery, has been sentenced to one year of probation and 50 hours of community service.

Hickson had faced a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for the fraud, which was discovered in 2017 when another woman noticed her credit score had dropped. Her credit report showed an unpaid balance of $20,465 on a CareCredit card for charges to a New York City plastic surgeon.

The woman, whose identity has not been released, disputed the charges. She had never applied for a CareCredit card, did not know the surgeon and did not know the person who had used the card.

Having repaid the victim, Hickson had asked for one-year probation and no jail time, a request affirmed by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas.