A drug trafficking investigation involving methamphetamine mailed in dog food containers led authorities to discover a CARES Act fraud scheme totaling nearly $500,000, according to federal officials.
Ten people, including six from Georgia and one former deputy with the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, have been indicted on a range of conspiracy and fraud charges, acting Northern Georgia District U.S. Attorney Kurt Erskine announced Thursday.
The investigation began with 38-year-old Alicia Quarterman of Fayetteville, whose home was searched by agents with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Drug Enforcement Agency as part of an ongoing drug trafficking investigation, Erskine said. The agents found methamphetamine that had been mailed to Quarterman’s home, Erskine said. They also seized her cellphone and a handwritten ledger with the personal banking information of several people.
In their search of Quarterman’s phone, USPIS inspectors found hundreds of text messages and photos related to fraudulent loan applications through the CARES act, Erskine said.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Quarterman and another woman, 41-year-old Katrina Lawson, familiarized themselves with the application process for requesting loans through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. Through the EIDL program, small businesses could submit a request for a loan through the Small Business Administration, and they could also request a $10,000 advance that would not have to be repaid.
Lawson, a former deputy in Fulton County, resigned in 2013, the sheriff’s office confirmed.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has accused Quarterman and Lawson of submitting fraudulent business loan applications for friends and family who did not actually own businesses. Quarterman would recruit loan applicants while Lawson would complete the paperwork, according to the announcement. Once their co-conspirators had received loan payments, they would pay Quarterman a fee, Erskine said.
The defendants are also accused of creating fake IRS documents to support their PPP loan applications, Erskine said.
From July through early August, Quarterman sent Lawson information for nearly 50 people and Lawson completed nearly 60 fraudulent EIDL applications requesting a total of almost $500,000, Erskine said. Lawson is also suspected of submitting 11 PPP loan applications seeking more than $200,000, Erskine said.
The defendants have been charged with a variety of counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, mail fraud and money laundering.
Aside from Quarterman and Lawson, who now lives in Houston, Texas, the defendants from Atlanta include: Katie Quarterman, 28; Tranesha Quarterman, 33; Darryl Washington, 66; Adarin Jones, 42; and James McFarland, 56.
The other defendants are from the Washington, D.C. metro area, including: India Middleton, 34, of Accokeek, Maryland; Nikia Wakefield, 42, of Rockville, Maryland; and Victor Montgomery, 43, of Washington, D.C.
This is one of several recent cases announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office involving fraud and the CARES Act. In February, Erskine told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his office expected more of these cases in the near future as additional instances are found of opportunistic fraudsters who targeted the $2.2 trillion emergency assistance package.
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