An Albany resident illegally posing as a lawyer has been sentenced to one-and-a-half to three years in state prison on criminal charges for fraudulently charging clients thousands of dollars for unauthorized legal services and forging signatures on legal documents, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office said Thursday.

Earlier this month, Antonia Barrone pleaded guilty to defrauding more than 400 people in the case, including prison inmates, and to operating a fake law firm that offered a slew of legal services. Barrone, a convicted felon,  was sentenced before Albany County Court Judge Peter Lynch on one count of scheme to defraud in the first degree. She also was ordered to pay nearly $270,000 in restitution and penalties.

Barrone, who is not a licensed attorney, used at least six aliases including the name Mario Vrendenburg and operated the New York State Prisoner Assistance Center, advertising legal services. Over the course of five years, Barrone bilked hundreds of people, including prison inmates and their families, to handle administrative parole appeals from inmates who were denied parole by Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, Schneiderman's office claims.

In some instances, Barrone accepted fees for legal work but did not perform any services. Prosecutors claim that Barrone and the entities she operated had clients throughout the state, including Albany, Cayuga, Clinton, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schoharie, Suffolk, Ulster, Warren and Westchester counties.

In a statement, Schneiderman said his office “won't hesitate” to prosecute phony lawyers who defraud New Yorkers. “Deceiving vulnerable New Yorkers into paying for unlicensed legal services is reprehensible, costing them thousands each and jeopardizing their rights,” Schneiderman said.

In mid-October, Barrone was arrested and arraigned in Albany City Court on a felony complaint filed by the Attorney General's Office charging five counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree, two counts of grand larceny in the third degree, one count of grand larceny in the fourth degree, one count of unauthorized practice of a profession, a Class E felony; and, one count of scheme to defraud in the first degree. Barrone filed legal documents with forged signatures and fake notary stamps, according to Schneiderman's office. She had also written letters on letterhead bearing the name of a fictitious law firm and appropriated the name of a licensed attorney.

In addition to criminal case brought by the attorney general's Criminal Enforcement and Financial Crimes Bureau, a civil lawsuit was separately brought against Barrone by the AG's Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau in May in connection with the same activities.

Barrone's sentencing Thursday will run consecutive to a sentence of one-and-a-half to four years in state prison that Barrone received today on an unrelated felony conviction.

Schneiderman's office has been investigating phony attorneys. In June, a Brooklyn man posing as a lawyer serving the Russian community was sentenced to six months in prison.