TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — The Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested a Tallahassee woman on Thursday for felony fraud in a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan scheme.
According to FDLE, 25-year-old Takira Janae Watson was arrested on one count of organized scheme to defraud, a second-degree felony, after discovering the information on Watson’s application for a pair of PPP loans didn’t match the information she had filed with the state for her business.
The federal PPP loan program was designed to assist small business owners that suffered financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically for those in business prior to 2020. According to FDLE, Watson stated on her PPP application that she opened Good Line Credit Service LLC as a sole proprietor back in 2019 but records show the actual registration date was in November 2020, four days before she filed for the first PPP loan.
After receiving her first PPP loan and depositing it into her personal bank account, Watson applied for an additional PPP loan and received it based on a fraudulent tax document she provided, FDLE reports. According to FDLE, she received $35,833.
Prior to the fraud's discovery, both of Watson's loans were forgiven by the program.
FDLE says she was later on booked into the Leon County Jail on a $2,500 bond and her case will be prosecuted by the State Attorney's Office, Second Judicial Circuit.
