Tacoma Woman Charged In Defrauding $550K From Friends: Feds

TACOMA, WA — A Tacoma woman who prosecutors said lied about her health, her employment status and education in a conspiracy to steal $550,000 from friends and acquaintances faces up to 20 years in prison after being charged on Monday.

Sabrina Taylor, 40, convinced people to send her large amounts of money between 2016 and 2019 by claiming that she needed cash to pay for medicine and pay her college tuition, U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said.

Prosecutors said that Taylor told people that she needed the medicine to treat multiple sclerosis and also said that she needed money to bail her brother out of jail. However, Taylor was not suffering from M.S. as she insisted and was not enrolled as a student at the University of Washington as she claimed, Brown said.

She also made promises to repay the money and told those she contacted for money that she was lying about her job status and about the fact she was expecting a litigation settlement from a local bank, prosecutors said. She also claimed she was expecting money from her parents.

Brown was charged with four counts of wire fraud after Brown said she contacted people online through shared interests such as Japanese anime, comic books, or video games.