Former TV News Anchor Gets 10 Years in Pandemic Loan Scam

FORT WORTH — Stephanie Hockridge, a former local TV news anchor in Phoenix, was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for her role in what federal prosecutors called a massive pandemic-era fraud.

In June, Hockridge was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud by a jury in the court of U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor. A November 2024 indictment claimed that she and her husband, Nathan Reis, together with others, submitted what they knew were thousands of phony applications for forgivable, federally backed loans under the federal Paycheck Protection Program, established by Congress in March 2020 to help struggling businesses stay afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic.