Fort Stewart Soldier Sentenced To Prison On Fraud Charges

SAVANNAH, GA — A Fort Stewart soldier was sentenced to federal prison after being convicted in a COVID-19 relief and federal student loan fraud case, the Department of Justice said Monday.

Dara Buck, also known as Dara Butler, 39, of Ladson, South Carolina, is a U.S. Army chief warrant officer 2. She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and was sentenced to 42 months in prison, U.S. Southern District Attorney David H. Estes said in a news release.

U.S. District Court Judge R. Stan Baker ordered Buck to pay $3,680,247 in restitution and to serve three years of supervised release after her prison term, the DOJ said. There is no parole in the federal system.

Buck is accused of illegally receiving funds from the Paycheck Protection Program and also using falsified disability claims to illegally discharge federal student loans from August 2017 through May 2021, the DOJ said.

Justice officials said Buck admitted to submitting more than 150 fraudulent PPP loan applications to the Small Business Administration for herself and others. More than $3 million was disbursed to them from banks, the DOJ said.

Buck is accused of receiving money in exchange for submitting the PPP applications on behalf of others, the DOJ said.

She is also accused of being paid to submit falsified U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs certifications for permanent disability to the U.S. Department of Education so more than a dozen student loans, totaling more than $1 million, can be discharged, the DOJ said.

“This sentence holds the defendant accountable for her large scale fraud scheme that impacted multiple federal agencies and robbed the taxpayers of millions of dollars,”Special Agent in Charge David Spilker with the VA's Office of Inspector General’s Southeast Field Office, said in a news release.

“The VA OIG is committed to investigating anyone who would exploit VA’s programs and services to fraudulently enrich themselves. We will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to hold wrongdoers accountable.”