Paducah, KY – A Paducah man was sentenced yesterday to 21 months in prison and was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $10,000 for fraud related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky and Jerry C. Templet, Jr. Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Homeland Security Investigations made the announcement.
According to court documents, between June 30, 2020, and July 3, 2020, Travon D. Jones, 27, of Paducah, Kentucky, stole $10,000 from the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA). The EIDL program is a CARES Act financial assistance program which provided loan assistance (including $10,000 advances) for small businesses and other eligible entities for loans up to $2 million. The EIDL proceeds could be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that could have been paid had the COVID-19 disaster not occurred. The EIDL application Jones submitted through the SBA online portal contained false statements and misrepresentations.
Jones was also sentenced to 3 years of supervised release upon completion of his term of imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system.
The Department of Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case with the assistance of the Paducah Police Department and the Small Business Association Office of Inspector General.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Raymond McGee of the U.S. Attorney’s Paducah Branch Office prosecuted the case.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
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