Reports

Salt Lake City, Utah – A Utah restaurant owner who obtained over $1.88 million by defrauding the COVID-19 Relief program was sentenced today to 12 months’ and one day imprisonment.

Salt Lake City, Utah – A United States District Court Judge sentenced a Utah County man Monday, who posed as a fake doctor, to three years’ imprisonment and one year of supervised release after he scammed consumers looking to heal a variety of ailments, including Coronavirus.

Salt Lake City, Utah – Melvin Roy Hunter, 71, of Salt Lake County, was ordered by the court today to 14 months’ home detention as part of a 40 months’ probation sentence, and ordered to pay $105,301.30 in restitution.

Salt Lake City, Utah – Robert James Waff, 50, of Sacramento, California, was sentenced today to a year and a half imprisonment, three years’ supervised release and ordered by the court to pay $114,066 in restitution. The sentence, imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Tena Campbell, comes after Waff admitted to devising a scheme to defraud the California Employment Development Department by unlawfully collecting unemployment benefits during COVID-19.

ST.GEORGE, Utah – Bradford, Leland Fishback, 40, of St. George was sentenced today to over two years’ imprisonment, three years’ supervised release and ordered by the court to pay $685,845.05 in restitution. The sentence, imposed by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Robert J. Shelby, comes after Fishback admitted to fraudulently obtaining government funds from programs intended to help employees and small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Three Tooele County residents accused of running a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan fraud ring will appear before a U.S. Magistrate Judge today following a federal indictment. The indictment, returned by a grand jury on Feb. 28, 2024, includes charges of wire fraud and aiding and abetting during the COVID-19 pandemic.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – A Utah County businessman was arrested today after he was indicted by a federal grand jury in Salt Lake City on March 20, 2024, for wire fraud. Robert Blake Molling, 41, of Lehi, Utah, is accused of fraudulently obtaining over $1.8 million in federal government disaster relief funds.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Before opening statements, Gordon Hunter Pedersen, 64, of Cedar Hills, Utah, pleaded guilty today to mail fraud. The case against Pedersen received national attention after he, acting as a doctor, promoted and sold silver products that falsely claimed could treat and cure diseases, including COVID-19.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – A California resident pleaded guilty today to aiding and abetting wire fraud, which led to defrauding the federal government of approximately $114,066 in unemployment benefits during COVID-19, while he was living and working in Utah. He also admitted to aiding and abetting others to fraudulently apply and pay him as compensation.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – An indictment was unsealed after a California man was arrested and is scheduled to appear in a Salt Lake City federal courthouse. The eight count indictment charges the defendant for unlawfully collecting unemployment insurance during COVID-19 from California while living and working in Utah. He also allegedly assisted others in committing the same acts for a cut of their unemployment insurance funds administered under the CARES Act.