UPDATE: Warner Robins woman sentenced to 5+ years in prison after fraud scheme conviction
33-year-old Emiliya Radford was sentenced to serve 66 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, on Wednesday.
UPDATE (10/10/24): 33-year-old Emiliya Radford was sentenced to serve 66 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, on Wednesday.
Radford must also pay $298,042.72 in restitution to Dr. James C. Smith on behalf of Smith Spinal Care Center, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia.
ORIGINAL STORY (6/28/24):
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A Warner Robins woman was found guilty by a federal jury on Thursday of bank fraud, wire fraud and federal program theft, resulting in more than $200,000 in losses for a local spinal center, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia.
33-year-old Emiliya Radford, the former office manager of Smith Spinal Care Center (SSCC) in Warner Robins, was convicted after approximately one hour of jury deliberations. She was immediately taken into federal custody.
Radford faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine for bank fraud, 20 years and a $250,000 fine for wire fraud and 10 years and a $250,000 fine for federal program theft, in addition to any restitution.
A sentencing date will be set by U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell. There is no parole in the federal system.
“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,” U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary said. “Financial crimes devastate hard-working, law-abiding citizens and will not be tolerated by this office or our law enforcement partners.”
Robert Gibbs, the Senior Supervisor Senior Resident Agent of FBI Atlanta’s Macon office, says Radford “violated the trust of the company that hired her and elevated her to a position of leadership.”
“Because of her self-interest and greed, she has not only thrown away her career, but will spend time in prison for her crime,” Gibbs said.
Court documents and trial evidence revealed that Radford’s company, Cyber Pinecone, was contracted by SSCC in September 2019 to perform marketing work. In May 2020, Radford was hired as the SSCC office manager and given signatory authority over the SSCC bank account. She continued to write unauthorized checks to Cyber Pinecone, amassing more than $200,000, including funds from COVID-19 Federal Economic Disaster Loans. Radford also gave herself an unauthorized pay raise and used SSCC funds to purchase $11,015.67 worth of items from the Apple store, which were delivered to her home. These items were later found during a search by federal agents on May 4, 2023.
The FBI investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Howard is prosecuting it for the government.
