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Date: Nov. 2, 2026
Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov
New Bern, NC – A Robeson County woman engaged in a scheme to defraud the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) by submitting a false loan application to steal $150,000 pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Pamela Humphrey, a Fayetteville Tech Community College professor, faces a maximum term of thirty (30) years in prison, a $1,000,000 fine and repaying a Forfeiture Money Judgment of $150,000 when sentenced later this year.
“While the government stopped doling out billions in easy Covid loans, this office remains vigilant to hold fraudsters accountable,” said U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle. “Any person who steals taxpayers’ dollars can expect us to find them, investigate them, and convict them. Then they will pay it back while in prison. Cheaters. Never. Win.”
Humphrey submitted a fraudulent EIDL loan application for a business located in Robeson County. Humphrey made false representations including the number of employees and the gross revenue of her business in order to obtain the government COVID loan. Following approval of the loan application, the SBA disbursed the funds into a personal account controlled by Humphrey.
W. Ellis Boyle, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Jones accepted the guilty plea from the Defendant. The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated the case.
IRS-CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. It is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS-CI has 16 field offices located across the U.S. and maintains an international presence through attaché posts abroad.