Blythewood Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison for Fraudulent Use of Husband’s VA Benefits

Columbia, South Carolina---- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that Tammy L. Yoho, a/k/a “Tammy Louise Black,” 54, of Blythewood, South Carolina, was sentenced to over three years in federal prison for theft of government funds. 

Evidence presented to the court showed that in 2002, Yoho entered an agreement with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to act as the fiduciary for her husband after he was diagnosed with brain cancer. In 2011, Yoho began a relationship with another man, whom she began living with in 2013. Yoho used her husband’s VA benefits for personal expenses, including spending large amounts at a casino in Las Vegas. In 2014, she forged her husband’s name on a power of attorney form so she could obtain a VA loan to purchase a large house in Blythewood, South Carolina. In October 2015, her husband was found dead in their marital home in North Carolina. The utilities had been shut off and the residence was in foreclosure for lack of payments. Yoho—who was still living with another man in Blythewood—subsequently filed for additional VA benefits claiming to have continuously lived with her husband until he died.

United States District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis sentenced Yoho to 37 months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of court-ordered supervision and payment of $47,730.34 in restitution to the Department of Veterans affairs.

The case was investigated by agents of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney William E. Day, II, of the Columbia office prosecuted the case.

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