A woman who prepared more than a dozen fraudulent applications, including for three former Broward Sheriff’s deputies, to the federal Paycheck Protection Program has pleaded guilty in federal court.
Lakeisha Black, also known as Lakeisha Pierce, from the summer of 2020 until the summer of 2021 charged people between $2,000 and $6,000 to prepare fraudulent applications to the federal program, which was designed to keep small businesses afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic. The applications she submitted for at least 14 people totaled more than $400,000, federal prosecutors said in a news release Wednesday.
Those who paid Black to prepare the fraudulent applications would indicate on check payments that the money was for “payroll” or “backpay,” according to a factual proffer, the facts of the case agreed upon by the defense and prosecutors. Black also submitted false income information in order for her to receive her own PPP loans and conspired with three deputies — George Anthony III, a sergeant in the West Park district; La’Keitha Lawhorn, a 16-year veteran; and Jean Pierre-Toussant, a six-year deputy in the Tamarac district.
The deputies previously pleaded guilty in their separate cases and were sentenced.
Pierre-Toussant was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay about $20,000 in restitution, federal court records show. Anthony III was sentenced to one year of probation ordered to pay about $20,000 in restitution, and has since completed the payment, court records show. Lawhorn was sentenced to time served and was ordered to pay about $62,000 in restitution. She remains on supervised release for three years.
Black’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 7. She faces up to a five-year sentence, prosecutors said.