U.S. District Court docket for the Southern District of Ohio/The Each day Beast
A flight-attendant-turned-cupcake-entrepreneur hid her prison previous by stealing a useless toddler’s id and utilizing it to acquire a job, a pilot’s license, a passport, admission to school, and, finally, a whole bunch of 1000's of dollars in COVID-19 bailout funds, federal investigators say.
The con went on for almost 20 years, till “Brie Bourgeois” slipped up final yr whereas renewing her passport, in response to a prison grievance unsealed Friday.
Ava Virginia Misseldine, 49, was arrested Thursday by federal brokers in Utah. Misseldine final yr moved out west from Columbus, Ohio, the place she ran a extremely regarded natural bake store. One in every of Misseldine’s companies, the Koko Tea Salon & Bakery, was featured on the Meals Community’s The Greatest Factor I Ever Ate, for pink velvet cupcakes made with beet juice slightly than meals coloring. In a 2014 interview with Columbus Month-to-month, Misseldine portrayed herself as a former most cancers researcher who grew up in Hawaii, the place, as she informed The Columbus Dispatcha yr earlier, her household ran a generations-old tea enterprise. Misseldine mentioned she moved to Ohio to check chemical engineering at Ohio State College, and that she acquired into baking in 2011 to honor her beloved grandmother.
However, a relative informed The Each day Beast, most of that was information to him.
Reached by cellphone, Russell Misseldine, who lives within the Cleveland suburb of Mentor, mentioned Ava didn't develop up in Hawaii, that the household just isn't within the tea commerce, and that he's “not conscious of” her having ever labored as a most cancers researcher.
Even stranger, Misseldine has allegedly been sustaining a very separate life as “Brie Bourgeois,” a ruse she started in 2003, three years after getting out of jail for theft, forgery, and escape. The actual Brie Bourgeois died in 1997, states an affidavit filed in Ohio federal court docket by a particular agent with the U.S. Diplomatic Safety Service. In line with public data, a “Brie Bourgeois” did attend Ohio State, as did an Ava Misseldine, who's listed as having studied liberal arts.
When Misseldine took on her new, fraudulent id, she began by getting an official Ohio state ID card in Bourgeois’ title, which she then used to get a Social Safety card and driver’s license. Misseldine offered a duplicate of Bourgeois’ delivery certificates and the names of the true Bourgeois’ dad and mom, Jacques and Paula.
To account for having not utilized for a Social Safety quantity till the age of 31, Misseldine “claimed to have been homeschooled her whole life with no job. [B]ut mentioned she now wanted a Social Safety quantity for faculty.” She then used Bourgeois’ id to attend Ohio State.
Paula Bourgeois mentioned she was by no means made conscious that her daughter’s id had been usurped, that she didn't have any form of relationship with Misseldine, and that she had not heard in regards to the arrest till The Each day Beast referred to as for touch upon Friday.
“Brie died so younger, she had no Social Safety quantity,” Bourgeois mentioned, expressing fear that she may someway be held answerable for any monetary crimes dedicated in her baby’s title. “She was solely 4 1/2 months previous when she handed away… I’m actually flabbergasted.” Jacques Bourgeois died in 2003, she mentioned.
In 2006, Misseldine utilized for and obtained an Ohio driver’s license below her actual title, along with the license she already had as Bourgeois. Though investigators wouldn't join the dots for almost 20 years, this, the affidavit suggests, was Misseldine’s first mistake.
The next yr, Misseldine—as Brie Bourgeois—started working as a flight attendant for Columbus-based non-public constitution service JetSelect, the affidavit in opposition to her states. That June, the Federal Aviation Administration issued “Brie Bourgeois” a pupil pilot certificates.
In November, Misseldine, once more as Bourgeois, utilized for a passport in Columbus.
“Bourgeois” mentioned in her utility that she deliberate to journey to Dubai, a visit that in the end by no means came about, in response to the affidavit. A bit titled “What different names have you ever used?” was left clean. As an emergency contact, “Bourgeois” listed a person with the initials F.F., which, the feds say additionally appeared on the docket in a civil case in opposition to Misseldine filed a decade earlier in Union County, Ohio. (An affiliate of Misseldine’s with these initials acknowledged that he knew her however declined to touch upon her newest arrest when contacted by The Each day Beast on Friday.)
U.S. District Court docket for the Southern District of Ohio
Utilizing her faux driver’s license and a letter from JetSelect saying she can be working “all through Europe and the Center East,” she obtained a passport issued for Brie Bourgeois, itemizing the identical dwelling handle as Misseldine’s, in response to the affidavit.
Misseldine has been hauled into court docket below Bourgeois’ title quite a few instances, in response to court docket data reviewed by The Each day Beast. On Dec. 17, 2007, “Bourgeois” pleaded responsible to theft expenses in Franklin County, Ohio.
However once more, the handle listed for “Bourgeois” was the identical dwelling related to Misseldine’s driver’s license, the affidavit says. This may change into a theme in Misseldine’s life, and finally, would result in her undoing.
In 2008, Misseldine registered a retail enterprise in Ohio referred to as “Brie Bourgeois” and transferred possession of a automobile from “Brie Bourgeois” to Ava Misseldine, the affidavit says. She was additionally sued by a creditor in civil court docket who referred to her as Ava Misseldine (aka Brie Bourgeois),” states the affidavit.
By all of it, Misseldine even duped a federal decide overseeing a chapter petition she filed in 2004, in response to prosecutors.
In October 2014, Misseldine appeared in court docket for a listening to on her utility. When requested if she had ever used the title Brie Bourgeois, Misseldine “mentioned she had solely used that title for about two years, and she or he final used it about 4 years in the past,” the affidavit states. “She claimed that she was adopted, ‘Brie Bourgeois’ was her delivery title, and she or he briefly used the title ‘Brie Bourgeois’ till her adoptive household turned upset about it. This was a lie: Brie Bourgeois was an actual one that died as an toddler, with a distinct date of delivery and completely different delivery dad and mom than Ava Misseldine.”
Nonetheless, Misseldine cast forward as if nothing was amiss, getting a passport in her actual title so she may journey to Honduras.
In April 2020, as COVID-19 was a full-blown pandemic, Misseldine started making use of for Paycheck Safety Program funds utilizing cast paperwork in each her personal title and as Brie Bourgeois, say the feds. She listed numerous companies, a few of which have been now not open, together with her former bakeries Sugar Inc. Cupcakes & Tea Salon, and Koko Tea Salon & Bakery. In one of many purposes, Misseldine allegedly “proved” her id with a duplicate of her Ohio State pupil ID below Bourgeois’ title.
In complete, Misseldine obtained some $1.5 million in authorities loans that have been later forgiven, in response to the affidavit. Not one of the cash went towards saving any jobs, the affidavit says, noting that Misseldine in reality spent the cash on a $650,000 dwelling adjoining to Zion Nationwide Park in Utah, in addition to a $330,000 unfold in Michigan.
Federal Aviation Administration
It wasn’t till January 2021 that Misseldine lastly caught the eye of investigators.
That month, Misseldine utilized by mail for a brand new passport as Brie Bourgeois, in response to the affidavit. She submitted a photograph of herself, itemizing Bourgeois’ birthdate as her personal, and the Social Safety quantity she obtained in 2003 in Bourgeois’ title.
And that’s when authorities say Misseldine acquired caught up within the internet of lies she had created.
On her passport utility, Misseldine listed her e mail handle as sugarinccupcakes@yahoo.com, which matches a URL, sugarinccupcakes.com, linked in Misseldine’s Twitter profile, the affidavit states.
“Among the data on this fraudulent passport utility mirrors data that Misseldine supplied in her 2015 passport utility below her true id,” the submitting continues. “For instance, the 2021 fraudulent utility listed her occupation as ‘baker,’ her emergency contact cellphone quantity as [Misseldine’s], and her supposed vacation spot as Honduras, all of which matches data that Misseldine supplied on her 2015 passport utility below her true id.”
The appliance “was flagged for potential fraud, which led to the [present] investigation,” the affidavit says.
Misseldine is now charged with passport fraud, Social Safety quantity fraud, aggravated id theft, and fraud in reference to main catastrophe or emergency advantages. If convicted, she faces as much as 30 years in jail. Misseldine doesn't but have a lawyer listed in court docket data, and couldn't be reached for remark.