Trisha Milstead, a 53-year-old resident of Newport, Tennessee, has pled guilty to wire fraud. The plea was entered before U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson, as announced by Acting United States Attorney Ellison C. Travis.
Milstead admitted to orchestrating a fraudulent scheme from May 2024 to July 2024. Her actions targeted two credit unions and three small businesses: an RV and travel trailer business in Tennessee, a used car dealership in North Carolina, and a new and used car dealership in Gonzales, Louisiana.
The scheme involved opening new accounts online at a California-based financial institution and attempting to fund them through wire transfers from a purported account at a Mississippi financial institution—a claim she knew was false. Before the fraudulent nature of the transactions was detected, Milstead utilized the online bill payment system of the first institution to issue several large checks drawn on her accounts.
Among these transactions were fraudulent checks used to acquire vehicles: $38,000 for a Ford F-150 Raptor truck from North Carolina, $49,044.42 for a 2020 Cadillac XT5 luxury SUV from Gonzales, Louisiana, and $35,350 intended for purchasing an RV in Tennessee.
The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations and the Gonzales Police Department with assistance from Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Department and Rutherford County (North Carolina) Sheriff’s Department. Assistant United States Attorney Alan A. Stevens is prosecuting the case.
