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TAMPA — A Clearwater woman was sentenced to more than a year in prison for participating in a conspiracy to commit federal student financial aid fraud, according to a statement by U.S. Attorney Robert E. O'Neill.
U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bucklew sentenced Shaneva Boyd, 30, to 12 months and a day in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Boyd pleaded guilty in August. The court ordered her to pay restitution of more than $77,000, and to forfeit $70,000 in substitute assets, according to O'Neill.
Officials say Boyd and her husband and co-conspirator James Isaac Boyd, 40, created Graduate Assistance and Consolidations Inc. in St. Petersburg in 2006 with the claim that the company would help individuals obtain student financial aid. Shaneva Boyd was secretary of the company.
However, Boyd and her husband fraudulently obtained funds for people who had no high school diploma or equivalent documentation, according to O'Neill's news release. The “students” fraudulently enrolled for admission to St. Petersburg College and applied for the loans, officials say. The Boyds kept “a substantial portion” of the funds, the U.S. attorney states.
James Boyd is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 13, after pleading guilty to conspiring to commit student loan fraud and aggravated identity theft. The U.S. Department of Education investigated the case, which is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cherie L. Krigsman.
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