BALTIMORE COUNTY — A former Baltimore County corrections officer fraudulently obtained over $40,000 in federal loans a new OIG report revealed.
This stems from an investigation in late 2022.
The Inspector General’s Office was contacted by a member of the Small Business Administration Office and determined some loans were being obtained fraudulently.
This was the case even though government employees were receiving steady paychecks throughout the pandemic.
Based on the results of the investigation, the Office determined the corrections officer received two loans totaling $41,633. Neither of which were repaid as they were forgiven by the federal government.
The first loan came in 2021, when he applied for a PPP loan related to his “Motor Vehicle Towing” business. As a result, he was approved for a SBA loan and he received $20,833 in federal funds.
This was forgiven about five months later, without having made any repayments.
He then applied for a second loan, using the exact same information used for the first one. This one was also forgiven under the same circumstances.
It was later determined the former officer did not own a tow truck, nor was he able to provide specific information about his towing customers.
When asked to provide information for his accountant that helped him apply for the loans, his past customers or the person that supplied him with the tow truck, he couldn’t because he lost his phone and the data was not backed up.
