Staff photo / Ed Runyan
Taylor A. Moore, 32, of Boardman, stands with her attorney, Robert Harvey, during her sentencing hearing in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, where she was sentenced to 18 months in prison on thefts totaling more than $14,000.

YOUNGSTOWN — Taylor A. Moore, 32, of Glenwood Avenue in Boardman, who made news over Boardman pool parties and thefts, was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in prison with a goal of getting restitution for victims.

Moore came to the public’s attention during the summer of 2023, when she and others hosted a Memorial Day pool party at her home on Glenwood Avenue in Boardman that frustrated neighbors and township officials because of alleged noise, trash and parking problems, according to township officials.

It was about the same time that a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge banned Moore and the others from hosting the parties that the theft-related indictments were filed.

Moore pleaded guilty at the end of April in three theft-related cases, all indicted last year. Prosecutors said they would recommend that Moore get one year in prison. But after hearing from the attorneys, Moore and others, Judge Anthony D’Apolito sentenced her to 18 months.

He said the reason was to try to provide reasons for Moore to pay restitution to several people who tried to buy items off Moore and paid money, but Moore never provided the items. She also defrauded a bank. The total of her restitution is more than $14,000.

In one of the cases, victims paid money for furniture that was never provided.

Moore was ordered to pay restitution of $1,714 to one customer, $1,662 to another customer and $2,700 to another customer. In another case, a woman paid $2,831 for furniture she never received.

A third case involved $5,701 in two checks Moore deposited with a bank that were fraudulent and had been altered, said Katherine Jones, assistant county prosecutor. The bank paid the money, and Moore never repaid it. She also did not make restitution to the other victims.

Moore committed other theft-related offenses in the past, dating back to 2011 and in 2016, a heroin possession conviction, forgery and grand theft in 2018, Jones said. She also had a 2023 Trumbull County theft case while the Mahoning County charges were pending. She served 180 days in jail in the Trumbull County case and was ordered to pay more than $8,000 in restitution.

“She stole from vulnerable individuals and exploited the trust of others, leaving behind a trail of financial and emotional devastation,” Jones said.

Felecia Harris spoke on behalf of her niece, who was one of the victims in the furniture-related thefts, saying her niece reached out to her for help when her niece was getting nowhere in getting the furniture she paid for. Her niece, who has two kids, was trying to furnish a house. Her niece worked two jobs to pay for the furniture but never got it, Harris said.

Moore apologized and said she tried to sell her home to make restitution, but “it just wasn’t in my favor.” She said paying restitution has “been my goal.”

The judge said the best justice would be for Moore to pay back the people who lost thousands of dollars.

In an effort to punish Moore and give her a reason to pay restitution, D’Apolito said he was sentencing Moore to 18 months in prison but “let you out early,” possibly after nine months, but Moore has to start paying restitution before she leaves prison.

Furthermore, if Moore is released after serving nine months and doesn’t continue to pay restitution, she could go back to prison to serve additional time, he said.