A Canadian woman known as the Black Widow because of the mysterious deaths of her husbands has been sentenced in a Florida court.

Judge Douglas Baird sentenced 69-year-old Melissa Ann Friedrich to five years in a Florida jail for stealing from one of her elderly boyfriends.

Investigators say the former Nova Scotia woman stole $20,000 US from Alexander Strategos, 73.

Police believe Melissa Friedrich lured the man over the Internet and quickly started a relationship.

Then, they say, she drugged him and drained his bank account. He survived and the drugging was not proven.

Murder charge

This is just the latest conviction against Friedrich.

She was charged with second-degree murder in the death of her husband, Gordon Russell Stewart in April 1991.

She was convicted on the lesser charge of manslaughter and served two years.

Another husband, Robert Friedrich, died in December 2002 under what his family believes are suspicious circumstances, but she was never charged for his death.

Robert Friedrich's sons accused her of emptying their father's accounts and the matter was settled out of court.