Cleveland Woman Sentenced to 2½ years in Prison for Forging Power of Attorney to Steal More than $46k from Elderly Victim

CLEVELAND - Tanya Alahmad, 46, of Cleveland, Ohio, was sentenced by U.S. Judge David A. Ruiz to 30 months of imprisonment and ordered to pay $46,064.30 in restitution. Alahmad pleaded guilty in March 2024 to one count of mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft for forging a power of attorney to steal more than $46,000 from an elderly victim.

According to court documents, from November 2019, through February 2022, Alahmad befriended the victim and stayed at their residence a few days week. Alahmad assisted the victim by cleaning the house and running errands. Alahmad also created a fraudulent Power of Attorney (POA) that named her as POA by forging the victim's signature and then used the POA to obtain credit and debit cards in the victim's name. Alahmad used the fraudulently obtained credit and debit cards to conduct unauthorized purchases and withdrawals. At times, the victim was hospitalized and in a rehabilitation facility while Alahmad continued to write checks from the victim's bank account without lawful authority. As a result of Alahmad's conduct, the victim and the bank lost more than $46,000.

This investigation was conducted by the United States Postal Inspection Service and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian M. McDonough. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio would like to acknowledge and thank the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office and the Cleveland Police Department for their cooperation with this matter.

The investigation and prosecution of this case is in response to the Elder Justice Initiative Program originating from the Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act of 2017 (EAPPA). The mission of the EAPPA and Elder Justice Initiative is to support and coordinate the Department of Justice's enforcement efforts to combat elder abuse, neglect, financial fraud, and scams that target the nation's elderly population.

If you observe something that you believe might be fraudulent conduct involving an older adult, contact the dedicated National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-FRAUD-11 or 1-833-372-8311 and visit the FBI's IC3 Elder Fraud Complaint Center at IC3.gov to report it.