Alva Review-Courier -

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Felony charges have been filed against a Jet woman. Harvina Alinita Britain is accused of using false documents to secure loans from Jet State Bank thus defrauding the bank in the amount of $39,088.70.

Court records show on Feb. 9, Forest Michael, the president of the bank, spoke with Alfalfa County Sheriff’s Deputy Diego Gutierrez about a fraudulent email. He had already contacted the FBI regarding the matter, and the agent he spoke with told him to contact local law enforcement.

Michael said the email he received in September of 2017 contained a letter from a client’s attorney. He had requested the letter as proof of collateral from his client, Britain, in order to provide her with a new loan as she already owed the bank money on a different loan. Michael showed Gutierrez an email from [email protected]. The email contained a word document showing a letterhead from Tina Hall, Attorney at Law, dated August 29, 2017.

The letter outlines the process by which Britain is entitled to a settlement in the amount of $3,984,452. It states she is to receive the settlement in yearly payments of $37,741 over the course of 10 years less delinquent taxes in the amount of $78,000 owed to the IRS and $85,000 placed in an escrow account to cover the taxes and a dispute fee if a dispute was requested. Gutierrez observed that the amounts stated in the letter did not add up to the total of $3,984,452.

Michael stated the letter seemed real to him, and he proceeded to approve several loans to Britain over three years from September 2017 to July 2020. He said Britain again attempted to borrow more money in July 2020. The loan was denied because she had yet to pay any money back to the bank and kept giving Michael different excuses.

Michael said he took the matter to the bank’s attorney who contacted Tina Hall, Attorney at Law, of Enid, who supposedly handled the settlement for Britain. Hall said she did not author the letter, and the email address was not hers. She was willing to sign an affidavit confirming what she said to the bank.

On Feb. 10, Deputy Gutierrez contacted Hall by phone. She said she no longer practiced law through her own firm. Since 2017 she had been working for Legal Aid at the YWCA in Enid. Gutierrez asked about the letter and the email where it originated. Hall said she worked a settlement for Britain which was the result of an insurance claim made in 2013. She said the claim had been settled in 2015 and was only for $15,000. After the conclusion of that claim and settlement, Hall said, she didn’t have any contact with Britain.

Hall pointed out the letterhead did not match either of the two letterheads she used while working under her own practice. She said she would not typically send a document of this type as a word document. She said she would both mail and email an affidavit to Gutierrez attesting to what she told him.

On March 4, Gutierrez requested and was granted a search warrant for information regarding the Google email address ([email protected]).

On March 12, Google LLC provided the subscriber and search information for the account. The name associated with the account was Tina Hall with a date of birth which did not match Hall’s. The recovery email [email protected] also did not match Hall’s.

Gutierrez then requested and received a search warrant for the [email protected] address. The name associated with the account was Harvina Holmes with a date of birth matching Britain’s.

Harvina Alinta Britain, 56, of Jet, has been charged with three felonies: (1) falsely personate another to create liability, (2) uttering forged instrument and (3) computer fraud and/or unlawful use of computer system.

Count 1 is punishable by a fine of $10,000 and ten years imprisonment.

Count 2 is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for a term not to exceed one year, by a fine not to exceed $1,000, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

Count 3 is punishable by imprisonment of ten years and/or $5,000 to $10,000 fine.