A Forsyth County woman has pleaded guilty to stealing hundreds of thousands of federal dollars intended for her charity.
Jessica Regas used the Martial Arts Foundation to funnel to her own use federal grant money from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, according to federal documents.
Regas, 68, admitted to receiving between $100,000 and $125,000 a year between 2004 and 2013 as her martial arts business’ designation as a controlling interest of the “Drug Free Forsyth Coalition.”
Prosecutors said she supplied the federal agency providing the grants with “materially false statements.”
Dennis Scheib, Regas’ attorney and a close family friend, told Channel 2 Action News that she “just got caught up” in the scenario dealing with the grants.
“You are talking $125,000 a year,” Scheib said. “Some of it went to judo. Some of it went to deal with the kids. Some of it went to their own personal things like eating. They didn’t buy rings with it … not a lavish style.
“She feels absolutely horrendous about what happened. She doesn’t offer any excuses for it.”
Scheib told Channel 2 that a Cherokee County grant applicant tipped off federal authorities.
According to court records, Regas must repay $600,000 to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as restitution, and faces up to 10 years in federal prison, as a part of a plea agreement that a federal judge must approve.
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