Non-Profit Founder Pleads Guilty To Stealing $2M From Federal COVID Programs

Tametria Dantzler is facing a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and financial restitution to her victims.

Tametria Conner Dantzler, 39, the founder of a non-profit organization for children with autism in Alabama, pleaded guilty on July 31 to wire fraud and money laundering charges. These charges stem from loans she obtained through the federal government’s CARES Act and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program.

According to WSFA, Dantzler’s plea deal indicates that she created companies and made false statements on her applications for the EIDL program in June 2020. As a result, Dantzler received forgivable loans and grants in the amount of $927,338.47. In addition to this, she also took payments or traded fake payroll checks in exchange for helping others get over $1 million in loans and grants. Dantzler is facing a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and financial restitution to her victims, but as WSFA reported, no sentencing hearing has yet been announced.

According to United States Attorney Jonathan S. Ross, the United States government will prosecute those whom they identify as having used loans intended for COVID-19 relief to enrich themselves using false pretenses. “Government fraud is not a victimless crime,” Ross said. “A financial loss to the United States is a loss to the U.S. taxpayer. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, along with law enforcement partners, will continue efforts to identify and prosecute anyone personally profiting from funds intended to provide relief for businesses.”

Dantzler, a former employee of WSFA who worked as an on-air reporter from 2011-2014, started Disability as an Ability Toward Success: Moms on the Move (D.A.T.S.M.O.M.) after she left the station. On July 3, the organization posted on its social media page that Dantzler was taking a break, posting: “Effective immediately, in order to focus on her family, D.A.T.S.M.O.M. Founder Tametria Conner Dantzler will take a hiatus from direct services and programs that involve her presence which include, but is not limited to trainings, speaking engagements and the respite care program.”

However, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Acting Special Agent-In-Charge George Richardson, it was important that Dantzler be held accountable for her actions.

“Tametria Dantzler fabricated documents and created a fraud scheme that diverted critical taxpayer money that was intended to help actual struggling businesses during an unprecedented pandemic for her own self-enrichment,” Richardson said. “HUD OIG remains steadfast in its commitment to working with our prosecutorial and law enforcement partners to aggressively pursue those who engage in activities that threaten the integrity of HUD programs.”