In Gainesville, Florida, Reina Isom, age 47, has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for her elaborate scheme that siphoned off more than $930,000 in federal financial aid. After admitting to wire fraud and two counts of Federal financial aid fraud, Isom will also face two years of supervised release and is ordered to pay $348,148 in restitution, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The fraud unfolded over nearly a decade, where Isom used personal details of her accomplices to enroll them in online colleges and falsely fill out FAFSA applications to maximize the financial aid received, the excess of which she pocketed, putting these funds into bank accounts and reloadable debit cards she controlled and she completed the academic coursework for these "students" to maintain their enrollment, which included plagiarizing past assignments by simply swapping the student names.
U.S. Attorney Tom Wheeler stressed the significance of the federal financial aid programs and condemned Isom's actions, declaring, "When someone abuses these programs, they don’t just break the law—they potentially steal a life-changing opportunity from a first-generation student or someone from an underserved community," according to the U.S. Department of Justice statement. This isn't Isom’s first run-in with the law; her criminal history includes a 2004 conviction for paying someone to commit arson for insurance fraud and a 2011 conviction for enrolling fake students for financial gains.
The Department of Education-Office of Inspector General took charge of the investigation, leading to Isom's conviction, and the imposing sentence was delivered by U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adam Eakman and Meredith Wood prosecuted the case, their work is not just a testament to the government's commitment to stop these fraudulent activities but also to protect opportunities that are supposed to benefit those in genuine need of aid for education.
