The former owner of a cupcake bakery in Columbus, Ohio, was sentenced to six years in prison after she admitted to stealing the identity of a dead baby and $1.5 million in PPP loans.
Ava Misseldine, 50, pled guilty to 16 counts of passport and wire fraud in a federal court last October and was sentenced on Aug. 8.
According to the Department of Justice, Misseldine used the identity of Brie Bourgeois, an infant who passed away in 1979, to obtain an Ohio driver’s license and social security card back in 2003. She also used the dead child’s name to apply for a student pilot certificate and U.S. Passport for her job as a flight attendant for JetSelect in 2007. She used her name and Bourgeois for the next 13 years.
In 2020, Misseldine used both identities to apply for PPP loans for her businesses Sugar Inc. Cupcakes & Tea Salon and Koko Tea Salon & Bakery. She received $1.5 million and used the funds to purchase a home in Michigan for $327,500 as well as one in Utah for $647,500.
Misseldine relocated to Utah in 2021 and applied for driver’s licenses in her name and Bourgeois. She was caught after she tried to renew her fraudulent passport in 2021, and it was flagged, prompting an investigation.
The Columbus Dispatch noted that the former cupcake baker received more than a dozen PPP loans by using forged documents to claim she had a minimum of 10 bakeries, restaurants and catering companies that were either not in business for years or never existed.
Misseldine was arrested by the authorities in Utah in June of 2022. Authorities also learned that she had six prior convictions that dated back to 1991. Two of them were under the name of the deceased child, according to Dayton News Now.
“Chillingly, a child who died in infancy now has a criminal record because of the defendant’s conduct,” read one court document.
Misseldine agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $1.5 million and will forfeit her house in Utah. Her house in Michigan was sold, and the funds were used as part of her restitution.
Misseldine’s attorney, Alan Pfeuffer, said that his client was remorseful in a statement to The New York Times.
“Ava was very remorseful over her past criminal behavior, and, at sentencing she read a very emotional statement accepting responsibility for her actions,” said Pfeuffer, adding that she “plans to seek counseling while in prison.”
