By Charles E. Ramirez, cramirez@detroitnews.com<\/p>\n
A former analyst for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms convicted of COVID-19 relief loan fraud has been sentenced.<\/p>\n
Tiesha Johnson, 57, formerly of Farmington Hills, was given seven months in jail by an Oakland County Circuit Court judge on Wednesday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFederal assistance programs are meant to help people during difficult times, and when someone defrauds the system, they take resources away from those who truly need them,\u201d Nessel said in a statement. \u201cMy office remains committed to holding accountable those who misuse taxpayer funds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s attorney, Richard Terrell Taylor, was not immediately available for comment on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Authorities alleged that Johnson fraudulently obtained two Paycheck Protection Program Loans and one Economic Injury Disaster Loan totaling $34,675 while she was a federal employee. PPP loans were created to cover businesses\u2019 payroll expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Inspector General referred the matter to Nessel\u2019s office for investigation in July 2022.<\/p>\n
Johnson was arrested in Dallas, returned to Michigan, and charged in December 2023 with three counts of obtaining between $1,000 and $20,000 under false pretenses. Each count carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.<\/p>\n
In May 2024, she was\u00a0ordered to stand trial\u00a0in Oakland County Circuit Court. Three months later, Johnson\u00a0pleaded no contest\u00a0to the charges.<\/p>\n
In October 2024, a judge sentenced the defendant to 11 months in jail but agreed to delay it if she paid $34,675 in restitution within 60 days. She failed to pay the restitution, and her sentencing hearing, initially scheduled for September 2025, was postponed until January, according to court records.<\/p>\n
Johnson is among the most recent Michigan residents to be accused of fraud related to COVID-19 relief loans.<\/p>\n
Last week,\u00a0a Beverly Hills man\u00a0pleaded guilty in federal court to defrauding the government of more than $2 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 28.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month,\u00a0a Macomb County woman\u00a0convicted of conspiring to steal more than $3 million in COVID-19 relief loans was sentenced to 27 months in prison.<\/p>\n
In July,\u00a0a Harper Woods man\u00a0accused of fraudulently obtaining more than $60,000 in COVID-19 relief funds was charged. His trial in Wayne County Circuit Court is scheduled to begin in March, according to court records.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Charles E. Ramirez, cramirez@detroitnews.com A former analyst for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms convicted of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[138,10975,181,23,795,100,143,904,145,144],"class_list":["post-156013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-farmington-hills","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-michigan","tag-news","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-county","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}