A north Mississippi woman will serve a year and a half in federal prison for defrauding over $5 million from a COVID-19 relief program aimed at helping small businesses pay their employees and cover operating costs during the pandemic.

On Sept. 11, U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Parker sentenced Lisa Evans, 43, of Olive Branch, to 1 ½ years in prison and three years supervised release. She faced a maximum sentence of 20 years for conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

As part of her sentence, Evans must pay $4.4 million in restitution to the U.S. Small Business Administration. She also is prohibited from opening additional lines of credit without prior approval, according to court docket notes.

She requested to serve her sentence as close to Memphis as possible to be near family. As of Wednesd

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