Woman gets 15 months for hair-show con
A 34-year-old woman who defrauded women with the ruse of a fictitious hair show to pay for plastic surgery, apartment rent, a car loan, and Walmart shopping sprees was sentenced Friday in federal court in Philadelphia to 15 months in prison.
A 34-year-old woman who defrauded women with the ruse of a fictitious hair show to pay for plastic surgery, apartment rent, a car loan, and Walmart shopping sprees was sentenced Friday in federal court in Philadelphia to 15 months in prison.
Tamira Fonville of New York, and conspirator Ricardo Falana of Philadelphia deposited fraudulent checks in banks in the Philadelphia area, prosecutors said. Fonville pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and three counts of bank fraud.
Prosecutors said Fonville benefited from $230,000 in proceeds illegally obtained between 2008 and 2013.
She and Falana persuaded women to provide bank-account numbers, debit-card information, PINs, and checks for their nonexistent hair show.
Fonville used the money to pay for plastic surgery, the loan on her $30,000 Chevrolet Camaro, and the $2,100 monthly rent on her New York apartment. Prosecutors said the conspirators spent thousands of dollars at Philadelphia-area Walmart stores.
Her lies didn't end there, prosecutors said.
She fraudulently obtained benefits from Medicaid, and from government food and child-care aid. She fraudulently received deferments on nearly $100,000 in student loans.
To get her car loan and apartment lease, she falsely claimed she was an employee of Mesa Airlines.
Prosecutors said Fonville stated that she considered her con-artist schemes a "career."
Falana was sentenced in February to 80 months in prison.
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