Former attorney, convicted of stealing from client and defrauding friend, pleads guilty to defrauding taxpayers by falsely claiming COVID program benefits

Tacoma – A disbarred attorney, sentenced last year to 18 months in prison for stealing from a deceased client’s estate and defrauding a friend, pleaded guilty today to wire fraud and making false statements for her scheme to illegally claim COVID pandemic benefits, and lie to the government about her income, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Darlene Baker, aka Darlene Piper, 58 of Port Orchard, Washington, was sentenced in March 2022 to 18 months in prison for her scheme to steal a $500,000 bequest to a children’s hospital and then a second $500,000 stolen from a friend.  Piper has officially changed her name to Baker. She is scheduled for sentencing in front of U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan on December 1, 2023.

Following the sentencing hearing for the original wire fraud case, prosecutors were alerted that Baker had lied to the court about her employment status.  The investigation revealed that she had also lied to government agencies to obtain pandemic relief loans to which she was not entitled.  In the plea agreement she admits that between March of 2020 and August of 2021, Baker sought to obtain $265,000 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Funds and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL).  In the applications for the programs Baker falsely claimed that she would use PPP funds to meet payroll expenses for her business.  In fact, Baker had no employees and she used $80,000 in PPP funds for her personal expenses.  Baker claimed in her EIDL applications that her business had been shut down due to COVID.  In fact, throughout that period Baker had worked as a bookkeeper for a Gig Harbor, Washington, investment firm earning as much as $145,000 during the relevant period. The Small Business Administration (SBA) did not pay out any funds to Baker based on her EIDL application.

In her plea agreement Baker admits that she lied on financial disclosure statements required by the court in her earlier criminal case.  In those statements Baker claimed to be out of work, when in fact she had substantial income working as a bookkeeper for the investment firm.  Despite that income Baker made no attempt to repay the victim in the wire fraud case and claimed to have no resources to pay restitution.

Darlene Piper was released from federal custody on March 16, 2023.

Wire fraud in connection with a presidentially declared major disaster or emergency is punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Making a false statement is punishable by up to five years in prison.

The case is being investigated by the FBI.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mike Dion.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form