Franklin Pierce
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Tennessee state senator is handed probation after striking plea-deal for $600,000 Fraud which saw her use federal cash to pay for her Wedding, Honeymoon AND Divorce, as well as Jeep for her daughter and LV Purse
A disgraced Democrat state senator dodged jail thanks to a plea deal over a $600,000 fraud which saw her spend federal cash on her wedding, honeymoon - and subsequent divorce.
Katrina Robinson, 41, struck the plea deal Friday which saw her admit just two of the 20 counts she was facing, with a value of $3,400. Sentencing guidelines could have seen the former Tennessee lawmaker face up to 10 months in prison for those counts.
But US District Judge Sheryl H Lipman decided to let Robinson off with a slap on the wrist, and sentenced her to just a year of probation after claiming that the swindler had suffered enough already.
Robinson, who was removed from office by a vote in February, managed to defraud the government out of the $600,000 by applying for the cash for a nursing school called The Healthcare Institute that she ran, then using it for her own ends.
She frittered away much of the cash on a lavish 2016 wedding, as well as her honeymoon, and even the legal fees for her divorce, when the marriage to her unnamed husband foundered.
She also spent more than $4,700 on makeup, video services and a party for her wedding, and $5,000 on a trip to Jamaica, the FBI said.
Based on bank records, over a four-year period, investigators found evidence that Robinson had given herself a $25,400 performance bonus, paid herself more than her allocated salary and transferred $54,000 to a retirement fund, according to charging documents.
The discrepancies amount to $169,134 more in salary than she was allowed to under salary amounts permitted by the federal grant, according to a 2020 FBI affidavit.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Sheryl H. Lipman departed from the guidelines at sentencing, saying Robinson had already suffered greatly and the Memphis community would gain no benefit from prison time for the nursing school administrator, community leader and mother of two.
Robinson was elected to represent a Memphis district in the state Senate in 2018. She was removed from office last month by the Republican-led Senate in a vote along party lines.
Before the 27-5 vote to remove her from the Senate, Robinson, who is black, argued that she had been unfairly judged by the white-majority body. She called it a 'procedural lynching,' prompting cheers of support that the Republican speaker gaveled down. Some of her supporters in the gallery were in tears and others stood in solidarity.
Outsed Tennessee state senator sentenced to one year of probation for $600,000 fraud | Daily Mail Online
A disgraced Democrat state senator dodged jail thanks to a plea deal over a $600,000 fraud which saw her spend federal cash on her wedding, honeymoon - and subsequent divorce.
Katrina Robinson, 41, struck the plea deal Friday which saw her admit just two of the 20 counts she was facing, with a value of $3,400. Sentencing guidelines could have seen the former Tennessee lawmaker face up to 10 months in prison for those counts.
But US District Judge Sheryl H Lipman decided to let Robinson off with a slap on the wrist, and sentenced her to just a year of probation after claiming that the swindler had suffered enough already.
Robinson, who was removed from office by a vote in February, managed to defraud the government out of the $600,000 by applying for the cash for a nursing school called The Healthcare Institute that she ran, then using it for her own ends.
She frittered away much of the cash on a lavish 2016 wedding, as well as her honeymoon, and even the legal fees for her divorce, when the marriage to her unnamed husband foundered.
She also spent more than $4,700 on makeup, video services and a party for her wedding, and $5,000 on a trip to Jamaica, the FBI said.
Based on bank records, over a four-year period, investigators found evidence that Robinson had given herself a $25,400 performance bonus, paid herself more than her allocated salary and transferred $54,000 to a retirement fund, according to charging documents.
The discrepancies amount to $169,134 more in salary than she was allowed to under salary amounts permitted by the federal grant, according to a 2020 FBI affidavit.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Sheryl H. Lipman departed from the guidelines at sentencing, saying Robinson had already suffered greatly and the Memphis community would gain no benefit from prison time for the nursing school administrator, community leader and mother of two.
Robinson was elected to represent a Memphis district in the state Senate in 2018. She was removed from office last month by the Republican-led Senate in a vote along party lines.
Before the 27-5 vote to remove her from the Senate, Robinson, who is black, argued that she had been unfairly judged by the white-majority body. She called it a 'procedural lynching,' prompting cheers of support that the Republican speaker gaveled down. Some of her supporters in the gallery were in tears and others stood in solidarity.
Outsed Tennessee state senator sentenced to one year of probation for $600,000 fraud | Daily Mail Online
