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.
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