A New Jersey woman who inflated her Philadelphia childcare business from three employees to 27 to defraud pandemic relief loan programs in the United States was sentenced on Friday to serve a year and one day in prison.
Treva Harris, 50, from Medford, New Jersey, also received three years of supervised release and must forfeit a total of $535,000 as restitution, pay $7,500 as a fine, and a $100 special assessment fee, according to a statement issued by U.S. Attorney David Metcalf. U.S. District Judge John F. Murphy pronounced the sentence.
Harris pleaded guilty in October to bank fraud. Prosecutors charged her by information in August 2025, and she waived prosecution by indictment.
According to court documents and the statements, Treva Harris fraudulently obtained several pandemic relief loans backed by the Small Business Administration in 2020. Among the loans she fraudulently obtained were those meant for the Child Prodigy Education Center, a childcare business in Philadelphia.
Firstly, she applied for and obtained the Economic Injury Disaster Loan, which disbursed $514,900. This application, filed in April 2020, truthfully stated that the business had three employees, gross income of $165,907 in the past year, and cost of goods sold of $113,420 (a figure that can be interpreted as payroll).
About two months later, Harris filed another Paycheck Protection Program application for the same business, which included fraudulent IRS documents. In that application, she fraudulently claimed the childcare center had 27 employees and a monthly payroll of $214,000, or a yearly payroll of $2,568,000. She received a loan of approximately $535,000 based on the latter application.
Prosecutors say she immediately used the fraudulently obtained money for luxury purchases, large withdrawals, and checks written for her boyfriend’s business.
The Paycheck Protection Program provides emergency money to help small businesses and workers affected by the coronavirus pandemic cover payroll and other expenses.
The FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorneys S. Chandler Harris and Matthew T. Newcomer investigated the case.
The Justice Department announced on April 7 the establishment of its National Fraud Enforcement Division. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche established the division by combining the Criminal Division’s Tax Section, Health Care Fraud Unit, and Market, Government, and Consumer Fraud Unit.
Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald will lead the National Fraud Enforcement Division, which will investigate and prosecute fraud against the American people.
The department says its fraud enforcement efforts support President Donald Trump’s task force to eliminate fraud, headed by Vice President JD Vance.
