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OAKLAND — A woman who impersonated her sister in public after stuffing her dismembered body in a freezer was sentenced Monday to life without parole, and barred from profiting from the crime. 

Sarah Mitchell, 50, of Oakland, was found guilty Nov. 21 of murdering her sister, Stevie Allman, 52, an anti-drug crusader. 

Prosecutors said Mitchell had planned to impersonate her sister to withdraw money from her trust accounts. 

In December, an Alameda County jury recommended life without parole. Prosecutors had requested the death penalty.  

The judge Monday agreed with the jury and barred Mitchell from profiting from the murder. 

“We’re disappointed that the jury found her guilty,” said Albert Wax, Mitchell’s attorney, who promised to appeal. “We believe some jurors did have some lingering doubt that contributed to why the death penalty was not imposed.” 

Mitchell began posing as Allman in the summer of 1997. They shared a home, and when that burned down, Mitchell claimed they had been the victims of a firebombing. She blamed it on disgruntled drug dealers.  

Then-Gov. Pete Wilson offered a $50,000 reward for information in the case. 

Police soon discovered Allman was really Mitchell, but not until she had fooled others and received $3,600 in sympathy checks. 

Then, on July 16 of that year, police found Allman’s body.  

She had been murdered, dismembered and stuffed into a freezer sealed with duct tape in the ruins of her home.