A federal judge will give former Phoenix news anchor Stephanie Hockridge an extra month before she must report to prison in the Blueacorn paycheck protection program loan fraud case.
Hockridge, who worked as an ABC15 news anchor from 2011 to 2018, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in June 2025. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison in late November.
Hockridge was released from custody with an ankle monitor after her sentencing and was initially ordered to surrender to prison on December 30.
See previous ABC15 coverage of the trial in the player above.
In court filings, Hockridge’s attorney asked for her to remain out of prison pending the appeal of her conviction. The attorneys have also asked for Hockridge to have a staggered sentence from her husband, Nathan Reis, who pleaded guilty in the case.
The court ordered Reis to surrender for his 10-year prison sentence on January 20, 2026.
On Friday, Judge Reed O'Connor agreed to push Hockridge's voluntary surrender date to January 30, 2026, which will allow the court time to consider Hockridge's requests.
Hockridge and Reis have a one-year-old son, and federal judges sometimes make accommodations of staggered sentences for married defendants with young children.
Blueacorn was a paycheck protection program loan processing company that started in 2020 during the pandemic. Hockridge and Reis were co-founders.
The judge previously ordered $64 million in restitution in the case, which will be forwarded to the Small Business Administration, which ran the PPP loan program. Hockridge and other defendants will be jointly responsible for paying.
During Hockridge's trial, prosecutors said the couple and their co-conspirators submitted fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program applications to obtain forgivable COVID-19 relief loans for businesses and individuals.
The trial took an unexpected emotional turn as the former ABC15 newscaster sobbed and briefly left the courtroom after an FBI agent recounted the arrest of her husband.
Earlier this year, Reis accepted a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. In June, Hockridge was convicted on the same charge by a jury in Fort Worth, TX.
Prosecutors argued that Reis, Hockridge, and Blueacorn co-conspirators altered financial documents to illegally obtain federal PPP loans for themselves and others who were not qualified to receive them.
Reis was sentenced earlier this month to 10 years in prison.
