Texas woman spent $900K of stolen money in attempt to become TikTok influencer, investigators say

SOUTHLAKE, Texas - A Texas woman with dreams of social media stardom was sentenced to 35 years in prison after a crime spree that started years ago.

Staci Blackmon pleaded guilty to stealing $1.2 million from her former employer, a high-end home building company in Southlake.

The Tarrant County District Attorney's Office says in 2019, Blackmon began to use a bank account of a senior partner who unexpectedly passed away.

"Staci Blackmon actually befriended the heir of this senior partner and was helping her figure out where all he had accounts and all of this, and so she was literally walking through this with the person she was victimizing," said Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Lori Varnell.

Blackmon used a company credit card to send nearly $900,000 through PayPal to TikTok.

"She was using that bank account that had his life savings in it to pay that credit card," explained Varnell.

So why TikTok?

Prosecutors say Blackmon was using the money to tip social media influencers on live streams in hopes of building her own following.

Blackmon also purchased a suite for Dallas Mavericks games, lavish trips and more.

Staci Blackmon

"She didn’t buy any assets. She didn’t put the money anywhere and had nothing to offer, to payback, that was comparable to the amount that she stole," said Varnell "She went ahead and stole another $400,000 from the business as well."

Blackmon's employer ultimately caught on to the theft, which led the company down a rabbit hole, realizing the theft had been going on for several years. Blackmon was indicted in 2022.

"She is extremely intelligent. She only ever graduated from high school, but that is no measure of how intelligent you are or how good you are at figuring out how to hide money — and she is very good at that," Varnell said.

Blackmon was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Court documents reveal she plans to appeal the sentence.

FOX 4 attempted to reach her attorney, but they could not be reached for comment on Friday.