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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Kimberly Jeffreys sentenced to home detention in fraud case

The now ex-wife of imprisoned Spokane developer Greg Jeffreys will serve her criminal sentence at home, a U.S. district judge decided Tuesday. Kimberly Jeffreys wiped tears from her eyes and hugged her daughter, as well as other family members, in a federal Spokane court room Tuesday afternoon after a 90-day home detention sentence was imposed. Prosecutors had recommended Jeffreys, who pleaded guilty to fraud in February, serve a six-month prison sentence. But U.S. District Court Judge Rosanna Malouf Peterson said Kimberly Jeffreys’ crime was committed with less intent than that of her ex-husband, who’s serving an eight-year sentence Peterson handed down in June, and Shannon Stiltner, who carried on an affair with Greg Jeffreys that took the pair to Las Vegas, according to court records. “I’m not sure that you are all that similar to the other defendants in this case,” Peterson told Kimberly Jeffreys. Stiltner pleaded guilty to concealing Jeffreys’ schemes through ignorance and conspiracy in November. She was sentenced to seven months in federal prison and is scheduled to be released from SeaTac Federal Detention Center next month. Greg Jeffreys remains in custody at the Spokane County Jail, according to records. Defense attorney Allen Bentley painted Kimberly Jeffreys as a devoted wife rocked by her husband’s affair with Stiltner, discovered in December 2011, when she signed the financial statement indicating a false net worth. That statement was used to secure loans for construction of a military entrance processing station off Highway 2, a project that was eventually finished for less than the loan amounts, investigators alleged. Prosecutors initially sought theft charges connected to the facility, in addition to multiple counts of mail and wire fraud. Many of those charges were dropped in the trio of plea deals that kept jurors from hearing the details of a lengthy investigation by federal authorities, including FBI Special Agent Lisa Jangaard. Kimberly Jeffreys spent three days in jail before she bonded out. Bentley said she was sewing bridesmaid’s dresses for her daughter when FBI investigators arrived with a search warrant at the couple’s Spokane Valley home in summer 2012. Peterson deemed that was enough time incarcerated, based on the severity of Kimberly Jeffreys’ crimes. Jeffreys has until Aug. 31 to pay federal authorities $125,000 from the sale of property she owned in Arizona, and authorities are still hashing out additional forfeitures that could total an additional $80,000 earned through the Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Greg Jeffreys. Kimberly Jeffreys will also have to serve three years of supervised release once her home detention ends. In a brief statement to Peterson, Jeffreys said she took “full responsibility” for the financial losses of her victims. “I want to apologize for not paying attention to what was going on around me,” Jeffreys said. She added, “I probably could have stopped a lot of stuff if I would have started calling people and finding things out.” Peterson cited Jeffreys’ strong family ties before handing down her sentence, and Jeffreys’ stated desire to finish coursework toward becoming a certified hearing therapist. Her daughter suffered hearing loss during a childhood illness, she told Peterson. The sentencing caps legal proceedings that have stretched to a year-and-a-half. Bentley acknowledged the lengthy process in his statements to the court Tuesday. “Today, we mark the end of a long journey,” he said.