BAKER CITY, Ore. – An Oregon man was sentenced to federal prison time for stealing COVID-19 pandemic relief funding intended to help small businesses and using it for himself.
Jeremy Clawson, 32, of Baker City, was given a two-year prison sentence, however, the judge reduced the sentence to 10 months to account for time already served. He will also have three years’ supervised release following his federal prison term.
Lying to gain access to economic stimulus funds for personal gain will be met with justice
“Greed has no place in SBA’s programs that are intended to provide assistance to the nation’s small businesses struggling with the pandemic challenges. I want to thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners for their dedication and pursuit of justice,” said Small Business Administration (SBA) OIG’s Western Region Special Agent in Charge Weston King.
According to court documents, Clawson had $145,200 in relief funds deposited into his account on August 11, 2020 from the SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans program.
About six days later he took out nearly $50,000 in a cashier’s check and bought a 2016 Dodge Challenger, the U.S. Attorney’s Office – District of Oregon said.
The SBA loan documents were for the “Halperin Manufacturing Company of San Diego, California,” even though “there is no record of any such company.”
“The loan application listed an actual San Diego resident as the company’s owner and claimed it employed 350 people," the U.S. Attorney's Office said. "Investigators contacted the purported owner, but that person denied owning or being affiliated with any such company and confirmed that the company’s supposed address in San Diego was the individual’s personal residence.”
On September 11, 2020, federal investigators interviewed Clawson at the Baker County Jail, where he had been detained on state charges. He claimed he received the $145,200 from a woman he had been dating online, and that he started spending it after he stopped talking with the woman.
He was charged with theft of government property in December, and in February a federal grand jury in Portland returned a single count indictment of theft of public money. He pleaded guilty in June.
Clawson was also ordered to pay $125,200 in restitution to the SBA.