Former Ohio bakery owner sentenced to 6 years for stealing baby’s identity to get $1.5M in pandemic loans 

An Ohio bakery owner received 6 years in prison for stealing a dead baby’s identity to receive $1.5 million in paycheck protection program loans to buy two out-of-state homes.

Ava Misseldine, 50, stole the identity of Brie Bourgeois, who passed in 1979 and was buried in Columbus.

Misseldine then used the name for a series of frauds in PPP loans.

She initially used the identity to obtain an Ohio ID and a social security card in 2003, and four years later, continued to use it to obtain a student pilot certificate and a passport.

She also worked as a JetSelect flight attendant under the false name, according to court filings viewed by The New York Times.

JetSelect is a private company based in Columbus.

As the pandemic rolled around and so did the relief loan program, Misseldine, who owned a bakery at the time, used her fake identity and her real name to gain financial relief through the PPP program.

The bakery owner received around $1.5 million in fraudulent PPP loans.

She listed her businesses as 10 bakeries and catering services around Columbus, including her own companies: Sugar Inc. Cupcakes & Tea Salon and Koko Tea Salon & Bakery, according to the Justice Department.

Misseldine used the money to buy a home in Michigan for $327,500, as well as a $647,500 home in Utah, where she also obtained driver’s licenses in both names, according to the DOJ.

She was arrested in Utah in June 2022 after authorities became suspicious of her when she tried to renew her passport in 2021, The Times reported.

She pleaded guilty to 16 counts of wire and passport fraud in a Southern District of Ohio court in October 2022.

As part of her guilty plea, she will pay the entire $1.5 million in restitution, and forfeit her Utah home and the profits on her Michigan home, which she recently sold.

She has already paid more than $300,000 from the sale of her Midwest home, according to The Times.

Her lawyer, Alan Pfeuffer, said in a statement on Wednesday: “Ava was very remorseful over her past criminal behavior, and, at sentencing she read a very emotional statement accepting responsibility for her actions.”

He also said she “plans to seek counseling while in prison.”

Misseldine opened Koko Tea Salon & Bakery in 2012, according to her LinkedIn profile, and she graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering.