Ex-state employee gets prison time for defrauding Mass. housing agency after being fired from job
Alihea Jones, 51, of Brandon, Fla., was sentenced in federal court to 10 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in a statement on Monday. Jones was also ordered to pay $222,074 in restitution and to forfeit $222,074.
U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris handed down Jones' sentence.
In September 2024, Jones pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud.
In 2022, Jones worked remotely for the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development for six months, Foley said.
She worked with the agency's Residential Aid to Families in Transition program, which provides funds to assist low-income Massachusetts residents facing eviction and other housing emergencies.
Prosecutors said after Jones was fired from the agency, she was still logged into the RAFT database and accessed the files of four RAFT program participants. She authorized electronic payments to their landlords in the amounts of $7,500, $8,800, $6,925 and $10,000.
Jones changed the routing and bank account numbers from the landlords' accounts to four unauthorized accounts in Georgia: an account in the name of Jones's business, Beauty Concepts by Alihea LLC; Jones's personal account; and the accounts of two of her friends. Jones did this 'all without knowledge or permission' from the state agency, prosecutors said.
After the transfers went through, her two friends each paid Jones a $2,000 kickback, prosecutors said.
Earlier, in 2021, Jones also fraudulently obtained a $187,000 PPP loan from a Massachusetts lender, which the SBA later forgave, prosecutors said. Jones spent most of the money on personal expenses, including clothing and restaurants.
Under the PPP, authorized lenders issued SBA-guaranteed loans to small businesses during the COVID pandemic to help keep workers employed. If a business spent the money on payroll and other permissible business expenses, the SBA forgave the loan.
Jones submitted a PPP loan application to a Massachusetts lender falsely stating that Beauty Concepts had 17 employees and an average monthly payroll expense of $74,800, prosecutors said. In fact, Beauty Concepts did not employ anyone.
Unaware that Jones's information was false, the SBA agreed to guarantee a $187,000 loan to Beauty Concepts, prosecutors said. The lender transmitted the loan proceeds to the Beauty Concepts account in Georgia. Jones later applied to have her loan forgiven.
'Again, she included false employee count and payroll information,' the U.S. Attorney said in her statement. 'Unaware that Jones's representations were false, the SBA forgave the loan principal and accrued interest.'
In total, Jones caused a loss of $222,074, with $33,225 payable to the Department of Housing and Community Development and $188,849 payable to the SBA, Foley said.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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