Lithonia Woman Sentenced in Corrections Department Thefts

A Lithonia woman is one of three people who have been sentenced to federal prison for stealing victims’ restitution money from the Georgia Department of Corrections.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Daynna Gregory, 41 worked in the department’s banking unit where she were responsible for issuing checks drawn on a restitution fund set up to compensate victims of other crimes.

Gregory, along with Tammi Stephens of Forsyth, GA and Richard Cantrell of Marietta, stole victim restitution money by having Stephens and Gregory use their access to the fund to issue fraudulent checks payable to a flower shop owned by Cantrell, who was not an employee.

The checks were purposely issued to Cantrell’s flower shop to hide the defendants’ involvement in the theft. Cantrell agreed to use his business to launder the stolen money.

After printing the fraudulent checks, Stephens and Gregory altered the department’s financial records to further disguise their theft.