"Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Teresa Giudice and her husband Joe pleaded guilty to fraud charges on Tuesday, and now, she is hoping to serve her prison sentence under house arrest.
The fact that Teresa is the sole breadwinner for the family, and that she has four children under her care is going to tip the scale in her favor, a source told Radar Online.
"You can count on Teresa to plead her case to the judge during her sentencing hearing… She really hopes to serve her prison sentence at home because the idea of going to prison absolutely terrifies her," the source added.
The Giudices were accused of exaggerating their income while applying for loans and hid their wealth in a bankruptcy filing. There were originally hit with a 39-count indictment last year, but two more charges were added to it later on.
While Teresa is expected to serve more than two years behind bars, her husband is looking at three years, and there are also talks that he might be deported back to Italy.
"He was not a citizen, but he has no history of violence," the Giudices' attorney Miles Feinstein told Hollywood Life. "It could be possible for him to be deported. Some of these counts alone carry 20 years," he added.
"You serve the time and then you are deported but the US attorney's office has no say. We will find this out some time after sentencing [in July] if they are going to take action. The judge told him today that he could be deported."
There are also talks of Teresa getting probation and Joe doing federal time.
Soon after pleading guilty, Teresa released a statement to the media saying she has finally owed up to the mistakes she did years ago. Teresa said she was especially sad to see how her mistakes are affecting her family, especially her children.
The couple has four children -- Gia, 13, Gabriella, nine, Miliani, eight, and Audriana, four.
Meanwhile, co-stars of Teresa and Joe have been busy on Twitter posting inspirational messages. Although they do not mention the Giudices, the timing of the tweets suggest that they were meant for the couple.
Here are some of the tweets.
BTW if you get pleasure out of others pain or even partake in the neg gossip of all..it says so much more about you than them #thinkaboutit
— Dina Manzo (@dinamanzo) March 4, 2014
Praying for a dear old friend and her family today. pic.twitter.com/FaH9kVk51m — Jacqueline Laurita (@JacLaurita) March 4, 2014
