
Two former Broward Sheriff’s Office Department of Detention deputies were convicted at trial Wednesday of defrauding the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program in 2021, the latest cases to be resolved out of at least 17 deputies charged last fall.
A federal jury convicted Tracy Wade, 51, and Carolyn Denise Wade, 49, of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to make false statements and making false statements to the Small Business Administration for receiving the PPP loans based on falsified documents, federal prosecutors said in a news release Thursday.
The Wades on multiple dates in May 2021 signed forms that falsely indicated that businesses in each of their names earned total gross incomes of more than $100,000, and a third person, Haydee Rivero, submitted falsified IRS forms with their loan applications on the Wades’ behalf, according to the indictment. Federal prosecutors in the news release said the businesses were “phony sole proprietor businesses.”
In early June 2021, Tracy Wade received a loan from the SBA for $20,833, and both Wades received a second loan for the same amount a few days later. They submitted applications in August 2021 to be forgiven for the loans that they falsely indicated were spent on payroll costs, the indictment said.
The indictment said they used the loans for themselves, including by writing checks payable to themselves for “salary” and “payroll.”
The conviction of Carolyn Wade comes after a federal jury earlier this year could not reach a unanimous decision, resulting in a mistrial. The Sheriff’s Office said it did not have information on the Wades’ relationship.
Rivero entered a plea agreement in September. A sentencing hearing is set for Nov. 20, federal court records show.
Most recently, a woman who prepared more than a dozen fraudulent PPP applications, including for three other former BSO deputies, pleaded guilty last week. Her sentencing hearing is set for Jan. 7. The three former deputies who she prepared forms for previously pleaded guilty in their separate cases and were sentenced.
Another former deputy was convicted at trial in June, Alexandra Acosta, who was on the department’s SWAT team. She was sentenced to four months in prison. At least one other has been sentenced, former deputy Stephanie Diane Smith, 53, who received a seven-year sentence.
The at least 17 former deputies who were charged received a combined $495,171 from the loan programs designed to help businesses survive during the pandemic, federal prosecutors said last fall when the charges were announced.