Former Health Care Manager Sentenced to Prison for Embezzlement Scheme

MACON, Ga. – The former office manager of a Middle Georgia chiropractic office was sentenced to serve more than five years in prison after a federal jury found her guilty of committing bank fraud and other federal crimes in an embezzlement scheme that cost an established spinal center more than $200,000 in losses and resulted in its closure.

Emiliya Radford, 33, of Warner Robins, Georgia, was sentenced to serve 66 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell on Oct. 9. In addition, Radford will pay $298,042.72 in restitution to Dr. James C. Smith on behalf of Smith Spinal Care Center. Radford was found guilty of one count each of bank fraud, wire fraud and federal program theft following approximately one hour of deliberations by a federal jury on June 27. There is no parole in the federal system.

“Financial crime can be life-changing for its victims; here, it forced a business’s closure and burdened innocent people with debt and other troubles,” said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary. “FBI and our other federal, state and local law enforcement partners will work to protect small businesses from financial crimes and hold fraudsters accountable.”

“Radford violated the trust of the company that hired her and elevated her to a position of leadership,” said Robert Gibbs, Senior Supervisory Senior Resident Agent of FBI Atlanta's Macon office. “Because of her selfishness and greed, she has not only thrown away her career, but crippled a business and took away jobs from numerous victims. She will now serve a well-deserved prison sentence.”

According to court documents and evidence submitted at trial, Radford’s company, Cyber Pinecone, was hired in Sept. 2019 under a one-year contract to perform marketing work for Smith Spinal Care Center (SSCC) in Warner Robins. In May 2020, Radford was hired as Office Manager at the business, and her new salary included marketing work. Radford was given signatory authority over the SSCC bank account and was responsible for issuing and signing all biweekly payroll checks, including her own.

Radford collected her salary as office manager and, without authorization of SSCC, continued to write and endorse checks to her business, Cyber Pinecone, for extensive marketing work totaling more than $200,000. In addition, she gave herself an unauthorized pay raise and used money from the SSCC bank account to purchase $11,015.67 worth of items from the Apple store that she shipped to her residence. When Radford quit on Dec. 19, 2022, none of the Apple items could be located at SSCC, but some were found inside her home when federal agents executed a search warrant on May 4, 2023. A portion of the embezzled funds came from COVID-19 Federal Economic Disaster Loans (EIDL) directed to aid the business.

The case was investigated by FBI.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Howard prosecuted the case for the Government.