MEMPHIS, Tenn. — WREG was the only camera there as Remark Chism was sentenced at the federal courthouse.
On one hand, you had his attorney who was pleading for leniency, saying this was a good person, who’d taken over a failing family business.
While Judge Mays took that into account, he also called Chism the mastermind behind a very serious and extensive crime.
Chism walked out of the federal courthouse Wednesday afternoon with his wife by his side.
The 36-year-old even laughed when he realized WREG was getting video after he tried to avoid our cameras.
The lighter demeanor could also stem from the fact that he could have spent 15 years in prison for being what the judge called “the leader” of a conspiracy that defrauded the taxpayers of millions.
Judge Samuel Mays sentenced Chism to 37 months, with three years of supervised release.
He’ll have to pay roughly $2.8 million in restitution.
“He came forward, admitted his wrong doing, said ‘hey, look, I’ve done wrong and I want to make this right in any possible way I can’,” said Michael Scholl, Chism’s attorney.
In June, Chism pleaded to three charges of a 25 count indictment.
He admitted to his role in the scheme that paid people cash for their EBT cards, then redeemed them at his family’s grocery store Maxi Foods.
He also acknowledged he helped fake attendance logs and records at the day care he owned to get government reimbursement.
The judge told Chism that a man with that much education and family support could have made different choices, yet he “went out and solicited people to commit crimes.”
Chism’s last request was to be placed at a facility near his family now relocated to Birmingham.
He’ll soon get a letter with a report date.
