Benjamin Ashford|Ex-Ohio bakery owner who stole dead baby's identity, $1.5M in COVID funds gets 6 years in prison

COLUMBUS,Benjamin Ashford Ohio — A former Ohio bakery owner will have to pay more than $1.5 million in restitution and spend six years in prison for her extensive fraud, including stealing the identity of a dead baby and obtaining federal pandemic-relief loans for defunct or nonexistent businesses.

Ava Misseldine of Columbus, Ohio, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court after pleading guilty to 16 counts of wire and passport fraud in 2022. Misseldine, 50, stole the identity of a baby who died in 1979 and applied for an Ohio ID in 2003, and later a Social Security card, driver’s license, and passport.

A federal investigation into Misseldine began last year when she attempted to renew the fraudulent passport, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Authorities arrested her last June in Utah.

Using the stolen identity of a baby for more than a decade

In 2003, Misseldine applied for Ohio identification using the name Brie Bourgeois. The real Bourgeois died as an infant in 1979 and is buried in a Columbus cemetery, court records show. She later obtained a Social Security card and driver’s license using the stolen identity. 

In 2021, Misseldine obtained driver’s licenses in both names after moving to Utah, prosecutors said.

Misseldine was employed under the false identity of a flight attendant at JetSelect Aviation, an Ohio-based private jet charter company.  In 2007, she used the stolen identity to obtain a student pilot certificate and U.S. passport.

Misseldine submitted paperwork claiming she needed the passport to travel internationally in her occupation.

She also bought two homes, cumulatively worth nearly $1 million. Misseldine purchased a $327,500 home in Michigan, which she later sold.

As part of her plea in October 2022, Misseldine agreed to forfeit her Utah home, a $647,500 house adjacent to Zion National Park, and profits from the Michigan sale. Both homes were paid for by fraudulently obtained pandemic-related aid, prosecutors said.

$1.5 million taken in fraudulent pandemic relief loans

Misseldine received about $1.5 million in federal loans using both her real and fake names in 2020 through the Paycheck Protection Program, according to court documents.

The loans were intended to help small businesses pay their employees in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The loans were forgiven if employers kept their workers' wages stable. 

Misseldine obtained more than a dozen such loans using fraudulent documents on behalf of at least 10 bakeries, restaurants, and catering companies in Ohio that have not operated for years or never existed, according to court documents. This includes her former bakeries Sugar Inc. Cupcakes & Tea Salon in Dublin, a Columbus suburb, and Koko Tea Salon & Bakery in two Ohio locations.

"Ava is very remorseful for her actions," said Misseldine's defense attorney, Alan John Pfeuffer. "She looks forward to receiving needed counseling while in the prison system."

COVID-19 relief loan fraud incidents

Misseldine’s loan scheme is just the latest in a series of COVID-19 relief loan fraud incidents. A federal watchdog report in June estimated that more than $200 billion in COVID-19 relief loans and grants for small businesses may have been stolen by fraudsters. 

At least 17% of the $1.2 trillion disbursed through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s pandemic assistance loan programs were potentially stolen by fraudulent actors, according to the report. The office estimated fraud in the Paycheck Protection Program is $64 billion — significantly higher than the SBA inspector general’s previous estimate of $20 billion.

The office has investigated more than 1,000 cases since March 2020, according to the report, and it has already found more than $400 billion worth of loans that require further investigation. The report also highlighted how vulnerable COVID-19 relief loan programs were to fraudsters, especially in the first several months of the pandemic.

To avert an economic crisis, the federal stimulus package was intended to provided emergency assistance to small business owners and entrepreneurs impacted by lockdowns and business closures. Last year, the Biden administration sought to strengthen oversight of more than $5 trillion in pandemic relief funding passed by Congress over the past two years.

The administration also announced a series of measures earlier this year, targeting the fraudsters who stole billions in pandemic relief funds.

Contributing: Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY