Tacoma woman ‘borrowed’ money under various false scenarios. Now she’s going to prison
A Tacoma woman on Friday received a 27-month prison term for a multi-year scam that defrauded friends and acquaintances of more than $600,000 through various falsehoods.
Sabrina Taylor, 41, pleaded guilty in July to one count of wire fraud, and the sentence was handed down Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
The sentence was announced in a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Washington.
Law enforcement officials say Taylor lied about her health, employment status and education “to steal more than $600,000 from people who had offered to help her,” according to the release.
At Friday’s sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez underscored the serious nature of the case, noting that for years “Taylor engaged in a sustained and calculated course of conduct that preyed upon her victims’ best emotions.”
Court filings show that Taylor started the scams in 2013, continuing into July 2019 and beyond.
According to the release, Taylor convinced people “to provide her with large amounts of money by claiming that she needed to purchase medicine for multiple sclerosis treatment, pay her tuition for the University of Washington, or bail her brother out of jail.”
Each scenario turned out to be false. The case was investigated by the FBI.
“Taylor used a substantial portion of the defrauded funds to pay for luxuries such as almost $60,000 for multiple trips to Japan and Korea, nearly $38,000 for online purchases from Amazon and Etsy, more than $29,000 for clothing, and nearly $16,000 for make-up,” according to Friday’s release.
It added that “Taylor also made false claims about how she was planning to repay loans, lying about her employment, a litigation settlement from her bank and funds she expected to receive from her parents.”
Some of the fraud victims were people Taylor met online, with Taylor later admitting “to stealing over $550,000 from one victim,” the release noted.
Taylor met the victims “using shared interests such as Japanese anime, comic books, or video games to establish a relationship,” it added.
Assistant United States Attorney Joe Silvio wrote in his sentencing memo, “Several of Taylor’s victims suffered substantial financial hardship — some likely will never be made whole financially. Equally as important, Taylor exploited and betrayed the trust of each of her victims and many of Taylor’s victims will continue to pay an emotional toll for many years to come.”
Taylor was ordered to pay $608,975 in restitution to the victims. Prosecutors in the case recommended no more than 27 months in prison for Taylor; maximum sentencing guidelines go up to 20 years.
