INTERNATIONAL: A real estate agent cried when a judge told her how long she could spend in prison

PHOTO: Foster told the judge she sold real estate for 19 years and previously spent more than two years in the Navy.

GULFPORT

Coast real estate agent Kim Foster, 47, of Vancleave, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to rig bids on properties sold at public auctions in South Mississippi.

Foster began to cry Thursday afternoon when U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. told her that her crime is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.

Guirola plans to sentence Foster, the seventh person to plead guilty during the ongoing investigation in South Mississippi, at 10 a.m. Oct. 17 at the federal courthouse in Gulfport.

She is unlikely to receive the maximum sentence. She struck a plea agreement with prosecutors and is cooperating with investigators.