New arrest costs NY thief heart transplant chance

NEW YORK – A thief who was released from a New York jail so she could get a heart transplant is back behind bars — possibly for good — after she was caught shoplifting again.

A lawyer for the dying Long Island woman tells Newsday (http://bit.ly/oNeSAr) the new arrest has probably cost her any chance of getting a new heart.

Diane McCloud, of Hempstead, was freed by a judge in January after a doctor said she had only six months to live if she didn't get a transplant.

After her release, she got into trouble with the court for continuing to smoke cigarettes. Then she was arrested in July for stealing beauty products from a store in Oceanside.

McCloud pleaded guilty Friday.

Now she has to finish serving her original sentence, plus additional time in the new theft case — if she lives.

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Information from: Newsday, http://www.newsday.com