By Laurence Hammack
The Roanoke Times, Va.
(TNS)
March 17 — A self-employed tax preparer who played an integral role in a scheme to funnel nearly $2 million in pandemic relief funds to Roanoke businesses—most of which didn’t exist—was sentenced Monday to two years in prison.
Artebia Hobbs, 47, helped the professed owners of the fake companies obtain forgivable loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, a government relief effort meant to be a lifeline for small businesses endangered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hobbs, of Chester, VA, pleaded guilty earlier to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and filing false tax returns.
The scheme, which was orchestrated by a Roanoke woman who needed Hobbs’ expertise to fabricate IRS documents used in the loan applications, “spread like wildfire,” U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen said in imposing the sentence.
In one of the most sweeping indictments in the recent history of Roanoke’s federal court, 25 people were charged with submitting more than 100 fraudulent applications for loans of about $20,000 each.
Last week, Cullen gave Jaimeka Austin, who he called the ploy’s mastermind, eight years in prison. The sentence for Hobbs, and a year-and-a-half term the judge imposed Monday for Kiearra Gardner, completed the cases of three women described by prosecutors as the fraud’s organizers.
With their help, the owners of fictitious businesses—including a home cleaning service, a lawn care provider, a dog kennel, a moving company, a chimney sweep and a childcare center—received direct-deposit loans backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
As the former owner of a women’s clothing boutique, Austin learned how to take the money for herself before offering her services to others. After obtaining the names and social security numbers of friends, family members and acquaintances, she and her co-conspirators registered the sham businesses with the State Corporation Commission and falsified IRS forms and other documents needed for the loans.
Austin charged a $5,000 commission for each loan awarded to the participants, who she recruited via social media and by word of mouth during 2020 and 2021. She shared a portion of her fee with Hobbs and Gardner.
Hobbs has no prior criminal history. “This is something that is so out of character for me, but I have tried to correct my wrongdoings,” she told Cullen.
She was the first defendant to plead guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government’s investigation. Prosecutors said her willingness to testify played a key role in the eventual guilty pleas of everyone charged in the case.
Gardner, who got involved later in the scheme after Hobbs became busy with her tax preparation business, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for her role. “I stand before you fully accepting responsibility,” she said in court.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Brett described her as “a worker bee of sorts for Jaimeka Austin.”
All three women were allowed to remain free on bond until ordered by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to report to a penitentiary.
Photo credit: sean zheng lim
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© 2026 The Roanoke Times, Va. Visit www.roanoke.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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