A Tennessee woman who was already on probation for fraud after she stole thousands of dollars in Covid relief funds and used the money to travel to a Florida resort and get plastic surgery was sentenced this week to more than six years in prison. Sentenced and ordered to pay. money back
Leslie Bethea, 30, of Sergainsville pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of making false statements to her probation officer after pleading guilty in June to wire fraud, money laundering and other charges. Judge J. Ronnie Greer sentenced Bethea to 78 months in prison on Monday.
According to the Justice Department, Bethea applied for a Payroll Protection Program loan in March 2021, claiming she earned $99,835 in 2019 — a year during which she was in prison for wire fraud. Bethea also claimed in the application that he had not been convicted of any fraud offense five years earlier.
According to the Justice Department, she received a $20,805 PPP loan in April 2021 and used a portion of it for a five-day trip to the Trump International Beach Resort in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida. The Justice Department said that while there, she used the money to pay for a cosmetic surgery procedure. Prosecutors say she lied to her probation officer about her finances and travel when she returned.
“Upon his return to Tennessee, Bethea submitted a false monthly supervision report for the month of April 2021 to his probation officer,” the DOJ said. “In that report, Bethea falsely claimed that she had received only $200 for the month of April, falsely claiming she had no expenses in excess of $500 (even though she had spent $200 at the Sunny Isles Beach Resort and plastic surgery practice paid more than that amount) in Florida), and falsely stated that he did not travel outside the State of Tennessee during the month of April 2021.
In addition to his sentence in prison, Bethea was ordered to pay restitution of the loan amount.
Douglas Payne, an attorney for Bethea, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.