An Oklahoma City woman was sentenced to six months in federal prison for forging a judge’s signature and using a deceitful ruse to acquire a car loan. According to the US Attorney’s Office, Amanda Christine Dailey, 37, attempted to defraud a credit union by utilizing a fraudulent bankruptcy discharge order with the signature of Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge Sarah A. Hall.
Dailey filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in August 2022, and the dominoes of deceit fell a year later, in August 2023. According to federal authorities, she walked into an auto dealership, paperwork in hand, and claimed her financial slate had been wiped clean. After presenting the falsified document to the car dealership, the loan, which was partially secured by a federal credit union, was granted. While the law eventually caught up, the automobile was bought under false pretenses, using paperwork that falsely claimed she had been discharged from bankruptcy, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Dailey’s ruse was exposed during an investigation led by the FBI’s Oklahoma City Field Office. A federal grand jury charged her on October 1, 2024, and she pled guilty on January 16, admitting that she forged a court order containing Judge Hall’s alleged signature. “She forged a court order with Judge Hall’s signature,” Dailey said during her guilty plea, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.
U.S. District Judge Charles Goodwin meted out justice on Thursday. In sentencing Dailey, he emphasized the gravity of the conduct and the significance of discouraging both her and her followers from committing such frauds in the future. “The seriousness of the offense,” commented Judge Goodwin, “and the need to deter Dailey and others from perpetrating similar offenses,” while handing down his decision to imprison Dailey, followed by two years of supervised release, as reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Assistant US Attorney Julia E. Barry, representing the prosecution, sealed the case against Dailey, ensuring that the false bankruptcy order resulted in a half-year in prison. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the cautionary tale emerging in the legal filings and the court’s decision serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of using the legal system to achieve one’s goals.