Michael J. Moore, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, announced the sentencing of Princess L. Eatmon, age 25, formerly a resident of Dougherty County, Georgia, on March 21, 2013, in Albany, by the Honorable W. Louis Sands, United States District Judge for the Middle District of Georgia.
Eatmon was sentenced by Judge Sands to serve 48 months in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons followed by three years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay restitution to the United States Department of Education in the amount of $139,087.
On May 7, 2012, Ms. Eatmon pleaded guilty to a one count Information which charged her with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a violation of 18 U.S.C. 1343 i/c/w/1349. During the period from Jan. 1, 2010, through Dec. 30, 2011, Ms. Eatmon fraudulently applied for and received student loans and grants from the U.S. Department of Education on behalf of at least 27 bogus students. The purported students were real persons in the Albany area who knowingly gave their personal identifying data to Ms. Eatmon in order to obtain federal student aid by fraud. Neither Ms. Eatmon nor the bogus students had any intention of actually furthering their education.
Using her home computer and the internet, Ms. Eatmon enrolled other persons in on-line universities, and applied for and received federal student loans and grants for them. Ms. Eatmon would, for a short period of time, turn in some course work on behalf of the students; however, once she received the federal monies for the bogus student, she would “drop out" of the course. None of the “students" which she enrolled completed any course work or had any intention to perform the course work themselves. The sole purpose of enrolling the “students" in on-line universities was to defraud the federal government into sending monies to Ms. Eatmon and her co-conspirators. Two other defendants have been convicted of conspiring with Ms. Eatmon in the same scheme: Kevinall Wheeler, who pleaded guilty on Aug. 13, 2013, and Dontreal Jenkins, who was convicted by a jury of conspiring with Ms. Eatmon (and of other offenses) on Jan. 11, 2013.
“Students from all walks of life depend on student loans and grants so they can further their education. When Ms. Eatmon committed this fraud, she stole money that could have been used to help deserving students go to college. My office is committed to pursuing those who commit fraud," said U.S. Attorney Michael Moore.
On Oct. 15, 2012, while awaiting sentencing in this case, Ms. Eatmon was charged separately with theft of United States Treasury checks and aggravated identity theft in connection with a completely different on-line tax scheme. Because of this new offense, Ms. Eatmon’s bond was revoked and she has been in custody since that date. On Jan. 3, 2013, Ms. Eatmon entered a separate plea of guilty to these charges. Sentencing on this second set of charges will be held at a later date.
The case was jointly investigated by the Dougherty County Police Department, the United States Department of Education, Office of Inspector General and the United States Secret Service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jim Crane.
Inquiries regarding the case should be directed to Sue McKinney, Public Affairs Specialist, United States Attorney’s Office at (478) 621-2601.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
