Ex-ATF analyst sentenced in Oakland Co. for pandemic loan fraud

By Charles E. Ramirez, cramirez@detroitnews.com

A former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms analyst convicted of COVID-19 reduction mortgage fraud has been sentenced.

Tiesha Johnson, 57, previously of Farmington Hills, was given a seven-month jail sentence Wednesday by an Oakland County Circuit Courtroom decide, Michigan Lawyer Basic Dana Nessel stated.

“Federal assist packages are supposed to assist folks in powerful occasions, and when somebody defrauds the system, they take assets away from those that actually need them,” Nessel stated in an announcement. “My workplace stays dedicated to holding accountable those that misuse taxpayer {dollars}.”

Johnson’s lawyer, Richard Terrell Taylor, couldn’t instantly be reached for remark Thursday.

Authorities alleged that Johnson fraudulently obtained two Paycheck Safety Program loans and one Financial Harm Catastrophe Mortgage totaling $34,675 whereas she was a federal worker. PPP loans have been supplied to cowl payroll prices for companies in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. Division of Justice’s Workplace of Inspector Basic referred the case to Nessel’s workplace for investigation in July 2022.

Johnson was arrested in Dallas, returned to Michigan and was charged in December 2023 with three counts of acquiring between $1,000 and $20,000 beneath false pretenses. Every rely carries a jail sentence of as much as 5 years.

In Could 2024, she was ordered to face trial in Oakland County Circuit Courtroom. Three months later, Johnson pleaded no contest to the costs.

In October 2024, a decide sentenced the defendant to 11 months in jail, however agreed to defer it if she paid $34,675 in restitution inside 60 days. She didn’t pay restitution and her sentencing listening to, initially scheduled for September 2025, was postponed till January, in keeping with courtroom data.

Johnson is likely one of the newest Michigan residents to be charged with fraud associated to COVID-19 reduction loans.

Final week, a Beverly Hills man pleaded responsible in federal courtroom to defrauding the federal government of greater than $2 million in federal COVID-19 reduction funds. He will probably be sentenced on July 28.

Earlier this month, a Macomb County girl convicted of conspiring to steal greater than $3 million in COVID-19 reduction loans was sentenced to 27 months in jail.

In July, a Harper Woods man was charged with fraudulently acquiring greater than $60,000 in COVID-19 reduction funds. His trial in Wayne County Circuit Courtroom is scheduled to start in March, in keeping with courtroom data.