Emiliya Radford, Bank Fraud, Georgia 2023

A former office manager has been found guilty of bank fraud and other federal crimes in an embezzlement scheme involving federal loans that cost a Middle Georgia chiropractic office more than $200,000 in losses.

Emiliya Radford, 33, of Warner Robins, Georgia, was found guilty of one count each of bank fraud, wire fraud, and federal program theft following approximately one hour of deliberations by a federal jury on June 27.

Radford was taken into federal custody after the guilty verdict. She faces a maximum possible sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine for bank fraud; a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for wire fraud; and a maximum possible sentence of ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine for federal program theft, in addition to any restitution imposed by the Court.

A sentencing date will be scheduled by the Court. U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell is presiding over the case.

“Emiliya Radford chose greed and deceit with her embezzlement scheme that victimized a small business that had operated in the Warner Robins community for many decades,” said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary.

According to court documents and evidence submitted at trial, Radford’s company, Cyber Pinecone, was hired in Sept. 2019 under a one-year contract to perform marketing work for Smith Spinal Care Center (SSCC) in Warner Robins.

In May 2020, Radford was hired as Office Manager at the business, and her new salary was to include marketing work. Radford was given signatory authority over the SSCC bank account with Wells Fargo Bank.

As part of her duties, she was responsible for issuing and signing all biweekly payroll checks, including her own. Radford collected her salary as office manager and, without authorization of SSCC, continued to write and endorse checks to her business, Cyber Pinecone, for extensive marketing work totaling more than $200,000.

In addition, she gave herself an unauthorized pay raise. Some of these funds came from COVID-19 Federal Economic Disaster Loans (EIDL). In addition to issuing these checks to herself and Cyber Pinecone, Radford also used money from the SSCC bank account to purchase a total of $11,015.67 worth of items from the Apple store that were shipped to her residence.

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