NEW YORK CITY, NY, USA In a rousing game of ring-around-the rules, Donna Quinter was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced all in the space of a few hours on fraud charges involving New York City's Housing Authority; the fast-paced caper was reminiscent of a frenetic episode of "The Monkees" television program. Quinter, 54, is married to Monkees band member Mickey Dolenz.
Authorities had charged Quinter with illegally receiving $136,866 in rental assistance from an affordable housing program to maintain an apartment in Manhattan's Upper East Side.
Quinter has resided with Dolenz in Bell Canyon, California since they married in 2002; she was receiving rental income from a roommate in addition to defrauding the government for the subsidy, which was intended to assist middle-income, full time residents in danger of being forced out of a rent-regulated apartment building that was being converted into luxury condominiums.
Quniter pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor larceny charge, reimbursed the city with a check for the full amount of the subsidy she illegally received, and was sentenced of five days of community service cleaning up feces in the primate exhibit at the Staten Island Zoo.
Dolenz said "Oooooooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooo oo!" when asked to comment, which roughly translates to "That stupid bitch made a monkey out of me!"
