SAN DIEGO (CN) - A San Marcos couple who boasted on the "Dr. Phil" show about making a nice income from shoplifting toys and selling them on eBay has been sentenced to federal prison. Matthew Eaton, 34, was sentenced to 27 months, and Laura Eaton, 27, to a year and a day.
The Eatons admitted they made more than $70,000 selling stolen toys across state lines on the Internet.
The Eatons appeared on the "Dr. Phil" show in 2008 and revealed their shoplifting-for-resale scheme, according to contemporary press reports. They claimed to be making $3,500 a week.
Alert, TV-watching authorities arrested them a year later.
U.S. District Judge Irma Gonzalez tore Dr. Phil a new one at sentencing Monday, calling him "a charlatan ... a terrible, terrible man." Nor did Judge Gonzalez spare the Eatons in her assessment.
The couple apparently specialized in stealing Lego sets.
Legoland is just down the road from the Eatons' San Marcos home, in the coastal city of Carlsbad.
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