Five people accused of stealing more than $1 million from a group of disabled artists entered guilty pleas in DeKalb County on Monday.
Christina Kelly, Tujuana Ross, Rory Ross, Kiante Smith and Tyleshia Avant received a variety of sentences in connection with their roles in the theft of $1.68 million from the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists’ group, according to a news release from the DeKalb district attorney’s office.
Kelly is expected to serve seven years of a 20-year prison sentence and pay $250,000 in restitution. Tujuana Ross is expected to serve five years of a 20-year sentence and pay nearly $177,000 in restitution; and Rory Ross was sentenced to 20 years of probation and ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution. Smith and Avant are both expected to serve 15 years of probation and have been ordered to pay more than $100,000 and $22,000, respectively, in restitution.
“These individuals worked over the course of five years to manipulate and syphon a considerable amount of funds from the MFPA without any regard for the individuals and families affected by their criminal acts,” DeKalb District Attorney Robert James said.
According to James’ office, Kelly and Tujuana Ross worked at the local MFPA office and developed a scheme to deposit thousands of checks made out to the group into a fraudulent bank account.
Each defendant received checks from the fraudulent account and there were debit cards connected to the account, authorities said.
The district attorney’s office said the MFPA is a for-profit association owned and run by disabled artists across the globe. Members of the artists’ group are unable to use their hands due to an illness or birth defect and paint various pictures with brushes held in their mouths or feet.
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