Broward Deputy Kyles, COVID Relief Scam, Florida 2024

MIAMI – Stephanie Diane Smith, 54, of Sunrise, Florida, has been sentenced to 7 months in federal prison for participating in a COVID-19 relief fraud scheme in which she received two loans from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, in March 2024, a federal jury in Fort Lauderdale found Smith guilty of two counts of wire fraud in connection with the scheme.

As a deputy sheriff with the Broward Sheriff’s Office, Smith applied for the PPP loans in 2021, claiming materially false gross income information for two sole proprietorship businesses, Children 1st Basketball Training and Agape Smith Vending.

The fruits of this scheme resulted in Smith’s unlawful receipt of $31,108, which she will be required to pay back in restitution as part of her sentence.

U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn imposed the sentence, which also includes a 3-year term of supervised release following imprisonment, a $2,000 fine, and forfeiture.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe, Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri of the FBI, and Sheriff Gregory Tony of the Broward Sheriff’s Office made the announcement.

The FBI, the Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Broward Sheriff’s Office investigated this case, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Snider and Trevor Jones prosecuting the case.

The COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force was established by the Attorney General in May 2021 to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud, and the Southern District of Florida’s U.S. Attorney’s Office was selected to head one of three national COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force Teams.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 23-cr-60203.