Pearl Woman Pleads Guilty to COVID-Relief Fraud

Jackson, Miss.  – A Pearl woman pled guilty to carrying out a scheme to defraud the COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

According to court documents, Robbie Reese, 46, fraudulently claimed and received over $1.3 million in federal tax rebates and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds. Reese submitted false Internal Revenue Service tax forms claiming reimbursement for payments to nonexistent employees and false loan documents for PPP loans.

Reese is scheduled to be sentenced on November 7, 2024, and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

U.S. Attorney Todd W. Gee of the Southern District of Mississippi, Supervisory Special Agent Louis Norvell of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, and Resident Agent in Charge Kyle Smith of the Secret Service made the announcement.

The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and the Secret Service are investigating the case.

Deputy Criminal Chief Lynn Murray is prosecuting the case.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866‑720‑5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.