Former BOP Correctional Officer Sentenced for Committing COVID-Relief Fraud — USAO Mississippi, Southern

Summary

A press release published 2023-02-17 by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Mississippi announcing that Tarshauna Thomas, 34, of Flora, Mississippi, was sentenced to three years of federal probation and ordered to pay $15,086 in restitution for a scheme to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program. According to court documents described in the release, Thomas fraudulently applied for two PPP loans, claiming to be the sole proprietor of a dog breeding and sitting service, and received $12,586, which she spent on personal expenses. The office states that she was employed as a Correctional Officer with the Federal Bureau of Prisons at FCC Yazoo City when she applied, and that the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General investigated.

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Jackson, Miss. – A Flora, Mississippi woman was sentenced to three years of federal probation and ordered to pay $15,086 in restitution for devising 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, Tarshauna Thomas, 34, 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.
The Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly T. Purdie prosecuted 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/coronavirus.
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/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

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