This week, Leslie Bethea, a 30-year-old woman from Surgoinsville, Tennessee, was sentenced to more than six years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of making a false statement to her probation officer. Bethea was already on probation for fraud when she applied for and received a Payroll Protection Program loan in March 2021. She lied on the application, claiming she had made $99,835 in 2019 when she was actually in prison for wire fraud. Bethea then used the $20,805 loan to travel to the Trump International Beach Resort in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, where she paid for plastic surgery. Upon returning to Tennessee, Bethea lied to her probation officer about her finances and travel. The judge ordered Bethea to pay back the loan amount in addition to her sentence in prison.
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