ROSWELL, Ga. — A Roswell woman will be spending the next several years in prison after pleading guilty to scamming the federal government out of $6,000,000 in Payment Protection Program funds.

Prosecutors say 49-year-old Hunter VanPelt, also known as Hunter Lauren VanPelt, Ellen Corkrum and Ellen Yabba Kwame Corkrum, submitted fake PPP loan applications totaling $7,943,591.50.

She only received $6,017,066.50 from those April 2020 to June 2020 applications.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

VanPelt reportedly owned or controlled six businesses seeking the loans, but lied on the number of employees working for each and the average monthly payroll. She also submitted fake IRS records, bank statements, and payroll reports.

Federal agents were able to recover $2.1 million of the funds.

TRENDING STORIES:

• Passengers on Amtrak train that went through Georgia say they’ve been stuck onboard for nearly 40 hours
• Fulton teachers banned from bringing their kids to empty classrooms during virtual learning
• Georgia judge facing possible expulsion after he’s caught on video attacking defendant

VanPelt was sentenced to three years and five months in prison with five more years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $7,002,031.50 in restitution.

“The Paycheck Protection Program is meant to help legitimate businesses and their workers through the depths of the pandemic,” said U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine. “Unfortunately, VanPelt decided to use the program as her personal bank. A significant federal sentence, such as the one she received, hopefully deters others from following the same path.”

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

VanPelt pleaded guilty to bank fraud charges in August 2021.

IN OTHER NEWS:

©2022 Cox Media Group