SALEM – A Superior Court judge who indicated he would send a 46-year-old Peabody woman with a long history of credit fraud and passing fake checks to jail for 30 months instead gave her five years of probation with house arrest for 6 months.”I wasn’t raised to be a criminal. I’m bi-polar. I’m hoping you will give me probation and a chance so I can show you I’m an exception to the rule,” said Joanna Snyder, who pleaded with Judge Timothy Q. Feeley not to send her to jail.Snyder, of 6 Oak St., appeared Thursday afternoon in Salem Superior Court and changed her plea to guilty to two counts of identity fraud, two counts of larceny over $250, two counts of forgery of a check, as well as single counts of uttering a false document and receiving stolen property arising out of incidents in Peabody, North Andover and Gloucester in 2008 and 2009.The judge sentenced Snyder to serve 89 days on one larceny over $250 charge and another 22 days on the receiving stolen property charge, both deemed served already for time she spent in jail awaiting trial on the cases.He also sentenced her to 30 months in the House of Corrections, which he suspended, instead placing her on five years of probation. She will be required to submit to mental health and substance abuse evaluation and treatment as deemed necessary, consent to random screenings, maintain her current health treatment and medication regime and was ordered to take no non-prescribed medications.She also will be on house arrest for six months. She will be monitored by electronic device, only allowed to leave for scheduled medical or emergency appointments and probation meetings.Feeley also ordered that she report all current financial accounts and credit card accounts to probation and she is not to open any new financial or credit card accounts without prior approval of her probation officer.”I’ve considered the recommendation of the commonwealth, read various letters in support of Ms. Snyder and considered her comments. Her record more than reasonably supports incarceration. I am not going to go that route. I am impressed with her efforts since her arrest and her conduct appears to be her mental health issues that have been previously ignored,” Feeley said as he handed down the punishment.”I’m going to give Ms. Snyder the benefit of the doubt. I do believe she has the substantial ability to remain law biding,” added Feeley.Snyder stressed to Feeley that she is bi-polar and was not diagnosed until recently.Assistant District Attorney Christina P. Ronan urged the judge to impose a three- to four-year state prison term.She said the charges arise out of incidents that began Feb. 9, 2008, when she passed a fake check for $544.95 at a Stop & Shop store in North Andover.The owner of the check had called authorities and reported the transaction, saying she had never been in the store and another person was using her identity. The check was from a fake company, Boston Bridge Services.Authorities recovered a photo identification of the woman cashing the check linking Snyder to the incident.Then between July 10, 2009 and July 12, 2009, she passed fake identification to area businesses on the North Shore to purchase items at three stores in Peabody totaling $990.46.She also passed fake checks in Gloucester in 2008 that had been stolen from a friend who had lent Snyder her car.Ronan pointed out to Feeley that Snyder has a “significant record,” 16 pages, has served federal time and did a two- to five-year stint in Arizona in 1996 for similar charges.”This is her way of life. This is her resume for 25 years,” Ronan emphasized.Defense lawyer Alba Baccari also pleaded with Feeley to place her client on five years of probation, saying “her life has changed. She is being treated and has turned her life around dramatically.”