Nationwide — Treva Harris, a 50-year-old African American woman from Medford, New Jersey, who went viral for paying $27,000 for her daughter’s princess-themed prom, has been sentenced to federal prison after using false information and fake IRS documents to obtain about $535,000 in pandemic relief money for her Philadelphia-based childcare business. She pleaded guilty to bank fraud and will spend a year and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
The case involved Child Prodigy Education Center, where Harris gave different accounts of the business’s finances and workforce when applying for pandemic relief, according to Where is the Buzz. In April 2020, she applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan and reported that the childcare center had three employees. She also reported $165,907 in gross income from the previous year and $113,420 in costs. That application resulted in a $514,900 loan.
Just two months later, Harris submitted another application through the Paycheck Protection Program. This time, she claimed the same childcare center had 27 employees and a monthly payroll of $214,000. That would have put the business’s annual payroll at more than $2.5 million. Prosecutors said she used fraudulent IRS documents to support the claims and received about $535,000 based on the false information.
The money was supposed to help businesses cover payroll and other expenses during the economic disruption caused by the pandemic. Instead, prosecutors said Harris quickly used some of the funds for luxury purchases and made large cash withdrawals. She also wrote checks connected to her boyfriend’s business, according to the case against her.
Harris was charged with bank fraud in August 2025 after an FBI investigation. She pleaded guilty in October and later faced sentencing in federal court. U.S. District Judge John F. Murphy ordered her to serve one year and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
In addition to the prison sentence, Harris must forfeit $535,000, pay a $7,500 fine, and pay a $100 special assessment. The case is part of ongoing federal efforts to investigate fraud involving COVID-19 relief programs, which provided emergency financial support to businesses and workers during the pandemic.