The Justice Department issued the following statement.
A Flora woman pleaded guilty today to carrying out a scheme to defraud the COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), announced U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca and Special Agent in Charge James F. Boyersmith with the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (DOJ OIG) Miami Field Office.
According to court documents, Tarshuana Thomas, 34, of Flora, fraudulently applied for two PPP loans. Thomas claimed to be the sole proprietor of a dog breeding and sitting service. From those fraudulently obtained funds, Thomas received $12,586, which she spent on personal, non-business related expenses. Thomas was employed as a Correctional Officer with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Correctional Complex (FCC) Yazoo City when she applied for the loans.
Thomas is scheduled to be sentenced on February 16, 2023, and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Purdie is prosecuting the case.
On
May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud
Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of
Justice in partnership with agencies across government
to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The
Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most
culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies
tasked with administering relief programs to prevent
fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing
coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover
fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing
information and insights gained from prior enforcement
efforts. For more information on the department’s response to the
pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/
Anyone
with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving
COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National
Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at
866‑720‑5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/
7 comments:
They told us that Covid-19 was so bad that it could be the extinction of humanity. I don’t blame people for trying to enjoy the money before we all died. This is actually Trumps fault.
She has been a correction officer. Just open the cell and tell her she now can stand on the other side of the jail door.
Where's the 'low hanging fruit' clown?
I think it is no coincident that someone with 9:12 am's intergrity thinks that this case is Trumps fault.
Did she get this thieving idea from the cons in her charge?
Why didn’t I apply for some of that boondoggle! I miss all the good stuff.
9:33 am
haha. Good one.
Post a Comment