- March 6, 2025
Angela Wray was standing before a judge Monday to receive her sentence after being found guilty of an organized scheme to defraud when she collapsed.
Midway through receiving a sentence of three years in prison followed by 15 years of probation, Wray fell forward on the stand, and her attorney, Regina Nunnally, helped to steady her. Circuit Judge J. David Walsh asked that she be moved to a chair. Bailiffs put her head between her knees, but when that didn’t help, she was moved to the floor.
Walsh then cleared the courtroom of everyone but family and paramedics were called on scene. Within 15 minutes of Wray’s collapse, a responder told an anxious group outside the courtroom that Wray was O.K.
The incident followed a lengthy sentencing hearing, during which Wray’s family and friends testified that she was a kind woman, active in her church and quick to help others. Chris Wray, the defendant's husband and a deputy with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, said his family was consistently low on money, so he didn't think his wife could be stealing.
However, Carlos Celico, the man from whom Wray was found guilty of embezzling about $60,000 from while she worked for him as a bookkeeper at Celico Auto Body Inc., said it didn’t matter how well-liked Wray was.
“She could be a great mother, a great daughter, but it still doesn’t mean she’s not a thief,” Celico said. “I would like to see her get whatever she deserves.”
It took a jury just 12 minutes to convict Wray after her trial. Prosecutors said that Wray, using a stamp of Celico’s signature, made more than 120 checks to herself and covered them with false entries in the ledger she managed. A few were used to make car payments for herself and for her husband. She cashed 28 checks at various stores, including Walmart and Publix. The rest were deposited into her personal bank account.
Wray was convicted in a similar case in New Jersey, in which she was accused of stealing more than $40,000 from an employer in the early 2000s, using methods similar to those used in the Celico case.
During Wray’s trial, her defense said that Celico misused his funds and altered his ledger to frame Wray. Nunnally said there was insufficient evidence to convict Wray and criticized jurors for reaching a verdict so quickly when they were provided with a bulky stack of ledgers from Celico’s business to review. Nunnally asked that Walsh give Wray a low prison sentence. Her crime carried a minimum sentence of 12.5 months and a maximum sentence of 30 years.
“In having sat through a lengthy trial (and) having heard the evidence,” Walsh said as the hearing closed, “I must say that I do not find, personally, this to be a ridiculous charge.”
Walsh sentenced Wray to three years in prison followed by 15 years of probation, during which she must pay restitution of $58,964. Most of that sum will go to Celico. During her probation, Wray also must take an anti-theft course, have no contact with Celico or his family, and complete 100 hours of community service.
She will have the opportunity to terminate her probation after 7.5 years if she has not violated its terms and if she had paid her restitution in full.
