A serial forger is going to prison for 20 years after handing out thousands of dollars of phony checks for everything from donating $20,000 to a charity, attempting to bail out two inmates and paying for breast implants.

State Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario on Wednesday sentenced Denise K. Foster, formerly known as Godwyn Foster, on three counts of theft and 25 counts of forgery.

Because she has prior convictions, Foster, 41, must serve at least six years and eight months of her sentence behind bars before she can be eligible for parole. The Hawaii Paroling Authority can set a higher minimum.

Del Rosario also ordered Foster to repay Honolulu plastic surgeon Benjamin Chu $5,000 for breast implants that were paid for with a phony cashier’s check.

"I met with the doctor in this case and I know that he wants restitution," said Chris Van Marter, deputy city prosecutor.

She also used phony cashier’s checks to purchase two automobiles.

Foster told Del Rosario she takes responsibility for her actions.

"I blame nobody but myself. I had a chance to turn my life around and go to the mainland and change my life up there," she said.

Foster has convictions dating to 1991 for theft, forgery, auto theft, credit card fraud and credit card theft.

In July and August last year while on probation for two 2007 convictions, she issued more than $140,000 worth of phony checks drawn on the Oahu Community Correctional Center inmate trust account to purchase two more automobiles, pay off a car loan, buy three business kiosks, donate money to the Lokahi Giving Project and spend on other goods and services including jewelry, pizza and phone bills.

The OCCC inmate trust account contains the money inmates can spend on authorized goods in the prison commissary. Foster got the account’s routing number from the bottom of a check she received for her remaining balance when she was released from custody. She then copied the number onto phony checks that listed a different account holder.

The state Department of Public Safety said Bank of Hawaii refunded the trust account any money it disbursed to cover the bogus checks.

Foster’s 2007 convictions were for theft, forgery, identity theft and unauthorized possession of confidential personal information.

Del Rosario revoked the probation in those two cases and resentenced Foster to 10 years in prison for each case, to be served at the same time as the 20-year prison term.