Growing up, Anderton said he never imagined that he'd become a criminal. As the seemingly sensible and studious son of working-class parents, Anderton earned an almost-perfect grade-point average in high school. He went on to study economics at the University of Pennsylvania. Upon graduation, he got a job as a financial analyst. His life seemed full of opportunity and promise.
Then came Kirsch, a Drexel University student and a seductress with sticky fingers.
"I met Jocelyn and she was stealing all the time and I began to participate and I made that choice," Anderton said.
But instead of blaming her, Anderton apologized to Kirsch.
"I was a large part of her downfall," Anderton said. "I'm sorry to Jocelyn for being part of her demise."
Last month, Kirsch, 23, was sentenced to five years in prison. Kirsch and Anderton had each pleaded guilty to conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, fraud and money laundering. Kirsch, however, got a longer sentence because she had a prior history of arrests for retail theft, and she continued to engage in criminal activity while out on bail in the Bonnie and Clyde case.
With his brains and economics background and her charm and apparent affinity for thievery, the pair engineered an elaborate scheme in which they stole the identities of unsuspecting friends and neighbors. They accumulated credit cards, opened accounts on eBay, and forged checks using the victims' names. They funded trips to Paris, Hawaii and the Caribbean, and purchased thousands of dollars worth of clothing and jewelry.
They also burglarized the apartments of their neighbors at the Belgravia, on Chestnut Street near 18th in Center City.
