AL woman gets time served for helping felon with CARES Act fraud

By Brendan Kirby

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    MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) — A woman who admitted helping a convicted felon file a fraudulent application under the Paycheck Protection Program will not do jail time, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Chief U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Beaverstock sentenced Tyanna Latoya Vionne Earl, 29, of Mobile, to time served. She will be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for three years and must pay $13,330 in restitution, along with her co-defendant.

Prosecutors asked for leniency in light of assistance Earl offered in the case.

“Earl’s cooperation substantially assisted the United States in that she provided information relating to CARES Act fraud cases (specifically, Paycheck Protection Program matters),” The U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote in a court filing. “This information corroborated statements from other witnesses and may lead to the prosecution of other fraud matters.”

Earl pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, admitting that she helped Demetrius “Demetric” Richardson with his application to the program created by Congress when it passed the Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in 2020. That program allowed companies to get emergency loans – which could be converted to grants in some circumstances – to keep businesses afloat amid pandemic shutdowns.

Richardson, who has a pending murder charge in Mobile County Circuit Court, has pleaded guilty to the wire fraud conspiracy charge and awaits sentencing in June. Court records show that he applied for funds under the program in April 2021, about eight months after his release from federal prison, where he served a drug sentence.

Richardson’s application claimed 2019 revenue for a “janitorial services” business of $108,099. He received $20,833 from the Paycheck Protection Programs, the maximum allowed for a one-person business. Richardson was still in prison during the time he claimed to be operating the businesses.

The application came after Mobile police charged him with murder in the shooting death of Dewon Donaldson on Ann Street.

Earl admitted that she began helping Richardson with the application after his arrest on April 19, 2021.

A recoded call that Richardson made to Earl from jail on April 28 of last year shows the two discussing transfers of the pandemic relief money.

After the government deposited the funds in Richardson’s account in May, Earl transferred $10,000 to her credit union account for safekeeping, according to her plea agreement.

From May 14 to July 15, she accessed Richardson’s bank account 21 separate times, according to the documents.

Earl’s sentence days after another CARES Act fraud defendant, Leroy Vidal Jackson, also received a time-served sentence.

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