A man from Starkville was sentenced to 78 months in prison for PPP fraud.

A Starkville man was sentenced to 78 months for PPP fraud.

A federal judge sentenced 27-year-old Joshua Lee Gentry to 78 months in prison and ordered him to pay $16,000 in restitution in connection with a phony payday lending scheme he ran out of his home.

Gentry admitted to prosecutors that he had defrauded lenders out of at least $120,000 since 2014. He told them he was able to do so by promising borrowers who could not afford their loans that they would only have to make two payments instead of 12. That way, he said, they could avoid paying back hundreds of dollars each month.

Gentry pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges last year. According to court documents, he promised lenders that the payments they were making would go toward debts incurred by people who couldn’t repay their loans. But Gentry didn’t actually pay those debts off, prosecutors say. Instead, he kept the money for himself.

As part of his sentence, he will have three years of supervised release after he completes his prison time. His attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

The case against Gentry involved six different lenders and more than 100 victims. At least some of the victims were elderly individuals.

A Starkville man was sentenced in a bogus payday loan scam case.

A Starkville man was sentenced Tuesday to 70 months in federal prison on charges related to a scheme that bilked several payday loan businesses out of millions of dollars.

U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock handed down her decision shortly before noon. She ordered Joshua Lee Gentry Jr., 25, to serve 70 months, followed by three years of supervised release once he’s released from prison.

Aycock noted she’d received letters from family members of Gentry’s victims asking for leniency during the sentencing hearing.

She said she took that into account when deciding what punishment to give him.

Gentry pleaded no contest in November 2017 to one count of mail fraud and one count of bank fraud. Prosecutors say he scammed more than 40 financial institutions over a four-year period.

In a statement provided to the Daily News Journal Tuesday afternoon, U.S. Attorney Steven Hensarling called Aycock’s ruling fair and just.

“Mr. Gentry robbed our citizens of their hard-earned savings,” he wrote. “We applaud the swift action taken by law enforcement in prosecuting Mr. Gentry.”

According to court documents, between April 2013 and September 2014, Dorsett conspired with several co-defendants to obtain controlled substances from physicians and then sell them online. In some cases, the defendants purchased the controlled substances from their physician patients, including Oxycodone, Xanax, Percocet, and Hydrocodone. After receiving prescriptions for these medications, Dorsett filled the prescriptions at various pharmacies throughout northwest Mississippi and sold those pills to customers located in various states.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Jackson Field Division and the Starkville Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys W. Michael Moody Jr. and David A. Hirsch, along with Special Assistant United States Attorney Joseph R. Guerra.

The case resulted from an investigation conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Memphis Resident Office, the DEA’s Joint Regional Narcotics Task Force, the FBI’s Jackson Field Office, the Starkville Police Department, the Northeast Mississippi Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, and the Mississippi Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

For further information, please contact Assistant United States Attorney W. Michael Moody Jr., at wmoody@usdoj.gov or 601-948-5800.

A man from Starkville was sentenced to 78 months in prison for PPP fraud.

“A Starkville man was sentenced today to 78 months in federal prison for his role in a $9 million Ponzi scheme,” according to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.

The Starkville, Mississippi, resident pleaded guilty earlier this year to bank fraud and money laundering charges related to his involvement in the scheme.

According to the Ledger’s article, “U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock said that, at sentencing, she would not impose a sentence longer than 78 months.” A person convicted of bank fraud faces up to 30 years in federal prison.

“In his plea agreement, Michael Williams admitted that he had lied about receiving investment funds from investors he claimed were investing their own money in real estate projects.”

Between January 2009 and July 2011, Williams allegedly deposited investor funds into five accounts belonging to four separate companies. He then allegedly transferred the money to two personal accounts totaling approximately $856,000.

“Williams told investors they could earn a return of between 5 percent and 10 percent per month.” However, investigators say he actually took no action to invest the money and only used the money to pay off his own debts and expenses. “

“As a result, the six victims lost a total of $9,092,841 over time.”

“According to the indictment, Williams’ wife, Dawna, ran her own Ponzi scheme in Oktibbeha County. In 2010, she was charged with bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. She entered a guilty plea earlier this year and was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison. Her case remains pending in U.S. District Court. “

A man from Starkville was sentenced to 78 months in prison for PPP fraud.

Starkville, Mississippi –On February 23, 2018, U.S. District Court Judge Sharion Aycock sentenced Daniel Wayne Williams Jr., age 47, of Starkville, Mississippi, to 78 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for his role in a $4 million identity theft scheme involving the Point-of-Purchase (“POP”) refund program at Walmart stores. According to court documents filed in the case, Williams was employed as a loss prevention manager and fraud investigator at Walmart, where he would intercept fraudulent refunds and divert them into his personal bank account. Williams stole approximately $3,000,000 across 20 states over a five-year period, including thousands of dollars from customers who were actually entitled to refunds.

In sentencing Williams, Judge Aycock noted that Williams had not only stolen money intended for consumers but had also violated the trust of his employer and others in the retail industry. Judge Aycock further stated that while Williams did receive substantial assistance from law enforcement authorities, these agencies were unable to identify consumers who were victims of Williams’ crimes until after they had been victimized by his fraud.

“The defendant knowingly and willfully exploited the POP refund system at numerous locations throughout the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Williams targeted vulnerable individuals seeking legitimate returns and reaped millions of dollars in illicit profits.” We commend the FBI’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network for their work in identifying those responsible for this fraud. I want to thank our partners at the Social Security Administration for working closely with us to help stop fraudulent claims and protect consumers. And I thank Walmart for its cooperation and continued commitment to stopping fraud throughout the country. “

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Jonathan W. Halpern and Brian J. Lesko of the Justice Department‘s Criminal Division, along with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew D. McCoppin and Robert E. Rice of the Western District of Tennessee.

The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Avern Cohn; Special Agent in Charge Rick Bennett of the FBI’s Memphis Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Gordon Ivey of the SSA’s Office of Inspector General-Atlanta Region; Assistant Commissioner Michael T. Anderson of the New York State Police; and Acting Regional Director Joseph M. Gaudiosi of the IRS-Criminal Investigation.

As part of a plea agreement, Williams admitted that between January 2011 and November 2016, he committed wire fraud affecting interstate commerce by stealing approximately $3,000 million in fraudulent refunds from Walmart customers claiming fraudulent refunds under various state programs. He pleaded guilty in December 2017 to two counts of mail fraud.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Att­orney’s Offices and the Child Exploitation Section of the Department of Homeland Security, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to provide services to victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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