Docs: Woman used fake students to defraud Education Department of nearly $1 million in financial aid

MUNCIE, Ind. — A serial scammer will spend over two years in prison after she defrauded the U.S. Department of Education out of nearly $1 million in financial aid by enrolling fake students in college.

Reina Isom, 47, was recently sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and two years of supervised release after pleading guilty to wire fraud and financial aid fraud. Now a resident of Gainesville, Florida, officials said Isom lived in Muncie when the scams occurred.

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class="wp-block-heading">Fake FAFSA forms

Court documents detail how, for nearly a decade, Isom carried out an “elaborate scheme” to defraud the Education Department out of over $930,000.

Isom reportedly enrolled accomplices in cheap, online college courses using their personal information. She then submitted Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms to apply for federally funded loans and grants, leaving out income details for the “students.”

By submitting false financial info, the Office of Federal Student Aid said Isom was awarded higher amounts of financial aid. To profit from the scheme, she then directed the excess money to be refunded to bank accounts and reloadable debit cards she had access to.

However, investigators said Isom did “far more” than just submit bogus forms.

Fraudulent students

To ensure that the financial aid kept coming in, Isom also took measures to ensure her accomplices stayed enrolled as students.

She reportedly did this by making sure the “students” were completing their coursework, including writing papers and recording video speeches for their classes.

To pull this off, Isom turned in assignments that were copied and pasted from other alleged students who were enrolled during previous semesters, with only slight changes made. One example, provided in court documents, can be seen below:

“Most of the time, this meant merely submitting the same assignment repeatedly, only changing the name of the student,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote in a news release Tuesday.

In total, officials estimate Isom submitted more than 50 fraudulent FAFSA applications for over a dozen alleged students. This reportedly caused more than $930,000 in financial aid to be awarded, with more than $340,000 of it being dispersed back to Isom.

Further evidence

While investigating Isom, officials found over 35 fake state IDs and at least 16 preloaded debit cards used in the scam. They also found texts between Isom and the “students” she had enrolled.

“Claasss [sic] start today too! We will be rich in a couple weeks,” Isom sent one accomplice.

“Yoyr [sic] loans got accepted today.. You boutta be hoodrich,” she texted another. “I got you a scholarship for 562… can I get 100 off dat?”

Isom even discussed that officials may be monitoring her FAFSA forms, texting one accomplice, “ion like puttin too many through at once or they start flagging.”

Investigators said this is not the first time Isom has been involved in fraud, calling her a serial scammer.

Serial scammer

Isom has been convicted of fraud at least two times in the past.

Prosecutors said that, in 2004, Isom paid someone $3,000 to light a fire in an apartment unit she had recently bought fire insurance for. She was later convicted of arson with intent to defraud.

Then, in 2011, officials said Isom was again found guilty in a fraud case. This time, she reportedly enrolled fake students at the University of Phoenix online school and completed fraudulent FAFSA forms. Furthermore, she applied for credit cards using stolen identities.

Tom Wheeler, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, said taking advantage of financial aid is a serious offense.

“Federal financial aid programs play a critical role in opening the doors to higher education,” Wheeler said. “When someone abuses these programs, they don’t just break the law—they potentially steal a life-changing opportunity from a first-generation student or someone from an underserved community.”

In addition to her federal prison sentence, Isom was ordered to $348,148 in restitution. No booking photo was provided for Isom, given that this is a federal case.