Shelbyville woman pleads guilty to tax, wire fraud; will pay more than $1.1M in restitution
The DOJ announced 33-year-old Rebekah Proctor, of Shelbyville, pleaded guilty to one count of willful failure to collect, account for and pay over a tax and one count of wire fraud.
She will be sentenced in July, but the DOJ said Proctor faces up to 30 years of imprisonment for the wire fraud charge and up to five years for the tax offense.
According to the plea agreement filed, Proctor operated Franklin Springs Academy, a daycare business in Middle Tennessee. Although she withheld income taxes and Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes — commonly known as Social Security and Medicare taxes — from her employees' paychecks and additionally owed the employer's portion of the FICA taxes, Proctor 'willfully failed to truthfully account for and pay such taxes to the IRS for the first quarter of 2022.' For that quarter alone, the DOJ said Proctor owned tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes.
She also fraudulently applied for and received a COVID-relief Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan she was not entitled to receive. The DOJ said Proctor made several false certifications on her April 4, 2020, application for more than $100,000 in PPP funds, including that she was current on her federal tax obligations and that the loan funds would be used to retain workers and for other business expenses. In fact, Proctor used the funds for her own personal expenses and for her husband's personal expenses, according to the DOJ.
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As set forth in the plea agreement, Proctor agreed that the restitution owed to the IRS for her employment taxes is $893,232.26. This figure includes unpaid taxes plus penalties and interest as required by law. She further agreed that restitution owed to the Small Business Association is $223,800, which is made up of the $105,800 in PPP loan proceeds she received in April 2020, as well as $118,000 in addition fraudulently obtained PPP loan proceeds she received in February 2021.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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