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Two Marion County women were sentenced Monday at U.S. District Court in Louisville for their roles in a more than $500,000 elder fraud scheme that took place during a three-year period.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky says Donna Jean Bradshaw, 57, of Lebanon, was sentenced to four years in prison, followed by another four years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay restitution of $582,635.

Tammy Lynn Gilbert, 49, of Bradfordsville, received no prison time but will have five years of supervised release, including 12 months of home incarceration. She was also ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution and a $1,000 fine.

According to court documents, between March 2013 and June 2016, Bradshaw, aided by Gilbert, engaged in multiple schemes to commit bank fraud and wire fraud. The two women were engaged in various means to defraud an elderly victim of funds, including creating a fictitious United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration mortgage loan reimbursement program and fabricating documents from a Louisville law firm to create the appearance of a fictitious inheritance.

Bradshaw pleaded guilty to two counts of bank fraud and eight counts of wire fraud this past January, while Gilbert pleaded guilty to two counts of bank fraud and eight counts of wire fraud in June 2020.

This case was investigated and prosecuted as part of the National Elder Justice Task Force and the Kentucky Elder Justice Task Force. The mission of the Department of Justice Elder Justice Initiative is to support and coordinate the Department’s enforcement and programmatic efforts to combat elder abuse, neglect and financial fraud and scams that target our nation’s older adults.
In response to the growing need and targeting areas of most significant concern, the Department of Justice initially created task forces in 11 federal districts to combat various elder abuse, including elder financial exploitation. Kentucky’s two federal districts comprised two of the 11 original districts under the Initiative. Last October, 14 more federal districts were added.
Kentucky’s task force is comprised of investigators, prosecutors, and others at the local, state, and federal level, with a common objective of protecting seniors across the state.

To report elder fraud, for non-life-threatening emergencies, call the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-FRAUD-11 (or 833-372-8311).