HOUSTON -- Brenda Mitchell revealed no emotion when Judge Michael McSpadden handed down a 14-year prison sentence Friday. It's what the KPRC Local 2 Investigates' hidden cameras caught in her Greenspoint office three years ago that landed her in court.

For a $100 application fee, Mitchell's company, ABM Management, claimed it would apply for and secure government grants to pay for cars, debt relief and even vacations.

"Uh, you talking about the travel?" one unsuspecting ABM employee asked a KPRC producer armed with a hidden camera.

"Yeah," said the producer.

"All right. That's $50,000 they give you for travel," said the ABM employee, explaining the grant our producer could receive.

KPRC saw hundreds of people shelling out money, hoping to collect those same types of grants.

Just days after the station's investigation, Harris County prosecutors began its own investigation. It seized computers, applications and nearly $800,000 from ABM.

Investigators said the money was originally collected from customers Mitchell recruited at churches and seminars where she used religion to lure them in.

"That was what I think was most egregious in this case was the fact that Ms. Mitchell continually quoted scripture, claimed that God was her CEO," said prosecutor Markay Stroud.

Mitchell's attorney would not talk with KPRC Local 2 investigative reporter Amy Davis for this story, but in court he told the judge his client suffered from postpartum depression, was overwhelmed and simply could not handle all of the applications coming in.

"I think the judge might have bought that if it had been a few or a few dozen, but when you have over 9,000, it's kind of hard to believe," said Stroud.

In its three-year investigation, prosecutors could not find a single customer who received any money. They also could not find a single grant application even submitted by Mitchell or her company.

Stroud said that Mitchell has said that she has made peace with God and received his forgiveness.

"Religion played a big part of her scheme," Stroud said. "And I think that she tried to play that off on this court as well, but apparently, obviously, it didn't work."

The judge sentenced Mitchell to 14 years in prison.

There is one final chapter remaining in this saga, and that is returning all of that money the state seized to approximately 9,000 Houstonians. Prosecutors at the district attorney's office have already started tracking down all of those consumers.

Mitchell did reopen for business after KPRC's investigation and after the DA's raid.

Only customers who gave money before the DA's raid in August 2005 will be reimbursed.