It was an inside job. A civil servant and her husband stole money to help people with diseases such as cancer and muscular dystrophy.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Kevin Gregory told a judge when the verdict was handed down in federal court on Wednesday.
The good idea was a four-year plan to steal money that was supposed to help disabled Georgians get jobs.
Gregory wore a Detroit Lions jersey to sentencing Wednesday. I’m here.
“It’s a particularly heinous kind of crime when people take money from people like that,” said FBI Special Agent Keith Cabrell, who led the investigation.
Federal prosecutors say Gregory’s then-wife, Karen Gregory (now Karen Reich), worked inside as a counselor for the Georgia Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. Kevin Gregory Approved A Fake Student Who Created Fake IDs And Fake College Transcripts For Four Years.
Over 250 checks were issued to 13 friends and family of the Gregorys.
According to court documents, the fake records that Gregory would make “claimed that the fake students had disorders or illnesses such as AIDS, cancer, psychosocial disorders, or muscular dystrophy.”
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“In some cases, they take legitimate information about people that should be in the system to receive money, take special needs and diagnoses and information, and replace it with other people’s names and photos to create fake IDs and I was making a Social Security card,” Cabrell said.
While fighting for a lighter sentence on Wednesday, Gregory’s attorneys argued that this was not a sophisticated scheme because he only used Microsoft Paint to create the fake documents.
However, Judge JP Buley sentenced Gregory to 51 months in federal prison. Lyke pleaded guilty last month and was sentenced to 60 months in prison.
“It was actually a full-time job working for the country, but it was also a full-time job deceiving the country and the people who should receive the money,” Cabrell said.
Boulee revealed in court Wednesday that Lyke, whose appeal was dismissed last week, died sometime in the days before he entered federal custody. I don’t know the details of that.
Gregory and Like are ordered to pay back the stolen $1.3 million.
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