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Atlanta CDC supervisor admits to $190K fraud
A former federal supervisor faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing more than $190,000 from the agency using fake invoices, according to the U.S. District Attorney's Office.
ATLANTA - A former supervisor at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $190,000 from the agency by using her position to create fraudulent invoices, federal prosecutors announced.
Gwendolyn Brandon, 43, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia to theft of government funds. The investigation revealed that Brandon used her insider knowledge of the CDC’s payment systems to orchestrate the scheme over an 18-month period.
Federal court billing fraud
What we know:
Brandon embezzled the funds between August 2023 and February 2025 while working as a supervisor at the CDC.
According to federal investigators, Brandon targeted the CDC's internal billing system because she possessed a high level of purchasing authority. Her role granted her the ability to approve credit card payments under $10,000 with very little administrative oversight. Brandon utilized this loophole to submit dozens of fabricated invoices, keeping each individual request below the threshold that would automatically trigger intense scrutiny.
What they're saying:
Nathan Kitchens, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, detailed how Brandon managed to bypass internal security protocols for over a year.
"Fabricated more than 40 invoices to the CDC demanding payment in various amounts from a few thousand dollars to just under 10,000 dollars," Kitchens said. "That result Brandon managed embezzled over 190,000 from CDC."
The CDC eventually flagged financial discrepancies and alerted law enforcement authorities.
Kitchens explained that Brandon's specific position within the agency allowed her to operate without immediate detection.
"Based on her role she had the ability to make credit card payments with not a lot of oversight as long as the amount was under 10,000 dollars," Kitchens said. "She was able to circumvent checks and evade detection at least at initial level but of course CDC over time they discovered fraud and quickly reported it to law enforcement."
Brandon no longer works for the CDC. As a condition of her case, she is permanently barred from applying for employment or conducting business with the federal government.
Despite the time it took to uncover the embezzlement, Kitchens noted that the official response was immediate once the red flags were raised.
"Once discovered it was swift justice, it was extended period of time because of cleverness of scheme embezzle the funds," Kitchens said.
What we don't know:
Federal authorities have not released information regarding what Brandon did with the $190,000 she stole from the agency. Officials also did not specify the exact dates of the fake invoice submissions beyond the 18-month window.
What's next:
Brandon is scheduled to be sentenced in September. She faces a potential prison sentence ranging from 1 to 10 years.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from federal prosecutors and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia, who explained how the investigation revealed the loophole Brandon utilized to bypass oversight.