A woman in Robeson County who works as an instructor at Fayetteville Technical Community College has pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge. According to prosecutors, she lied on a loan application for pandemic relief to obtain $150,000 from the United States Small Business Administration (SBA).
Pamela Humphrey, 44, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina disclosed on Monday. She faces up to 30 years in prison and up to $1 million in fines, which will be imposed when she is sentenced later this year. She must also repay the $150,000 through a forfeiture money judgment.
“While the government stopped doling out billions in easy COVID loans, this office remains vigilant to hold fraudsters accountable,” U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle said. “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.”
According to prosecutors, Humphrey applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan for a business in Robeson County. To be eligible, she made a false representation about the number of employees and gross revenue, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Once the SBA approved the loan, the funds were deposited into a bank account under her control, prosecutors said.
Humphrey’s case is another example of a pattern of federal pandemic loan fraud prosecutions involving Robeson County in recent times.
In March, a former sheriff’s deputy from Robeson County, his wife, and their two adult sons pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. They admitted to a conspiracy that stole $542,288 through five disaster loan and Paycheck Protection Program applications for four Robeson County businesses. Erica McMillian, who is the wife, was sentenced in April to 10 months in prison for a $150,000 disaster loan for a fictitious business.
Phillip Collins, 47, of Pembroke, pleaded guilty to the same charge in June after prosecutors claimed he received $170,833 through false disaster loan and PPP applications.
The SBA distributed $1.2 trillion through those two programs during the pandemic. In a 2023 report, an inspector general found that more than $200 billion of that money went to fraudsters, including $136 billion in disaster loans. The SBA disagreed and put the fraud figure at around $36 billion.
Boyle, who has led the federal prosecutor’s office for North Carolina’s 44 easternmost counties since August 2025, used the same line, “Cheaters. Never. Win.” when announcing Collins’ plea and McMillian’s sentence.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert B. Jones Jr. accepted Humphrey’s plea. The FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation assisted in the case.
The press release did not disclose the name of the business on the loan application or anyone else involved in the conspiracy.
