Fayetteville Woman Arrested for Multi-Million Dollar Fraud Schemes

RALEIGH, N.C. – Department of Justice U.S. Attorney's Office Eastern District of North Carolina

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, April 13, 2021: A Fayetteville woman was arrested and was detained pending her trial in federal court today on charges of wire fraud and laundering the proceeds of government contract fraud scams that targeted the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and businesses in the Eastern District of North Carolina. 

According to court documents, from 2011 to 2020,  Stephanie Dianna Elliott, aka “Stephanie Wilson,” aka “Stephanie Moore,” aka “Stephanie Russell,” aka “Stephanie Hanchett,” aka “Vicki Marsh,” aka “Monica Allen,” aka “Melissa Standford,” aka “Jennifer Taylor,” aka “Heidi Litchford,” aka “Sandy Morehead,” aka “Randy Morehead” aka “Katie Jones,” aka “Sharon Mitchell,” aka “Sharon Miller,” aka “Sarah James,”  and aka “Janet Harrington,”  45, used aliases and more than a dozen business entities to obtain more than 1,000 federal defense contracts valued at more than $2.2 million.  According to the allegations in the indictment, Elliott defrauded the Department of Defense by obtaining contract payments after falsely certifying that she had shipped supplies to the U.S. military, when, in fact, the goods were not shipped.  It is alleged that Elliott and/or businesses under her control were debarred from federal contracting on four occasions.  Elliott allegedly circumvented the terms of her debarments by using aliases and various business names to continue bidding on federal contracts. 

The indictment also alleges that Elliott executed fraud schemes in connection with contracts with the State of North Carolina and other state governments. It is alleged that Elliott bid on contracts to supply food products and other goods.  The indictment alleges that, after winning the contracts, Elliott defrauded third party vendors by inducing them to deliver the goods to the state in satisfaction of Elliott’s contractual obligations.  It is alleged that, in so doing, Elliott obtained payment for these contracts but failed to pay the victim vendors.

Elliott is charged with twenty-six counts of Wire Fraud and five counts of Money Laundering and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count if convicted.

G. Norman Acker, III, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement. The Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the General Services Administration, Office of Inspector General are investigating the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Toby Lathan is prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.