Reports

SAN DIEGO – Restaurateur Leronce Suel was sentenced in federal court today to 42 months in prison for submitting more than $1.7 million in fraudulent applications for COVID relief programs and failing to report the income to the IRS.

Fort Myers, Florida – U.S. District Judge Thomas J. Barber has sentenced Timothy Craig Jolloff (48, Fort Myers) and Lisa Ann Jolloff (58, Fort Myers) to eight years and one month, and three years, respectively, in federal prison for wire fraud, bank fraud and illegal monetary transactions. The Court also ordered the Jolloffs to pay $3.4 million in restitution to the Small Business Administration (SBA) and to forfeit $3.4 million which was the proceeds of the offense. The Jolloffs entered guilty pleas on April 24, 2024.

BOSTON – Two brothers, who co-owned a now-defunct Florida-based company, have been sentenced in federal court in Boston for charges associated with shipping facemasks that were misbranded as N95 respirators, and price gouging hospitals, during the earliest phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces that Denys Perez (31, Tampa) has pleaded guilting to wire fraud related to COVID relief funds. Perez faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. In addition, he faces a forfeiture order of $502,900, as well as a forfeiture order for the property he purchased with proceeds of his offense. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

Baltimore, Maryland – Today, Chief U.S. District Judge George L. Russell, III, sentenced Ryan E. Dales, 36, of Baltimore, to 26 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release. Dales, a previously convicted felon, was charged with unlawfully possessing a firearm as a felon, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces that Larry E. Denson, Jr. (31, Jacksonville) has pleaded guilty to wire fraud involving COVID relief fraud through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Denson faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison and payment of restitution to the United State government. Denson has also agreed to forfeit $18,190, the proceeds of the charged criminal offense. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

ABINGDON, Va. – Two more of the 17 defendants charged with conspiring to defraud the United States, commit program fraud, and commit mail fraud in connection to a scheme involving filing fraudulent claims for pandemic unemployment benefits, were sentenced last week in U.S. District Court in Abingdon.

Greenbelt , Maryland – U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby sentenced Michael Cooley, Jr., aka “Micheal Cooley Jr.,” “5Micmusik,” and “Michael White,” age 26, of Prince George’s County, Maryland, to 87 months in federal prison. In January 2025, Cooley pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, in connection with a conspiracy and scheme to defraud the Maryland Department of Labor (MD-DOL) and California Employment Development Department (CA-EDD).