A Chapin man and three Newberry residents have been convicted in a payroll scheme.

Acting United States Attorney Kevin F. McDonald stated that Travis Leon Davidson, 24, of Chapin, was sentenced in federal court for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371.

United States District Judge Joseph F. Anderson Jr. sentenced Davidson to 45 months imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release. Davidson contracted with companies to handle a payroll for fake businesses he claimed to be operating.

He recruited co-conspirators Varna Mae Basnight, 45, her daughter Ashley Santasha Basnight, 26, and Cedric Dewayne Willingham, 27, all of Newberry, to provide the payroll companies with bogus listings of employees and salary information.

The payroll companies processed the payroll, making direct deposits into bank accounts established by Davidson, expecting reimbursement from him.

The co-conspirators withdrew the funds before the payroll companies realized that Davidson’s reimbursement checks were worthless.

Davidson and his co-conspirators obtained approximately $325,000 from the victim companies through the scheme.

Varna Basnight, Ashley Basnight, and Willingham were previously sentenced to sentences of four months imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release, the first four months of which is to be served on home confinement.

The case was investigated by agents of the United States Secret Service, and Assistant United States Attorney Dean A. Eichelberger of the Columbia office handled the case.