SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, March 27, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Three Tooele residents are accused of obtaining more than $422,000 in fraudulent loans designed to protect small businesses from financial loss during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Halee Ann Mehlbauer, 38, Timothy George Lopez, 62, and Rick A. Bolton, 65, all of Tooele, are accused of running a Paycheck Protection Program loan fraud ring from July 2020 to January 2022, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Utah.
Mehlbauer, Lopez and Bolton were indicted by a federal grand jury Feb. 28 and were scheduled to appear before a U.S. magistrate judge Thursday at the Orrin G. Hatch United States District Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City.
Court documents say the trio fraudulently applied for at least 10 PPP loan applications and five PPP loan forgiveness applications that attempted to defraud lenders and the Small Business Administration of approximately $422,242.50.
Congress allocated the funds to provide low-interest loans to eligible small businesses experiencing financial disruption due to COVID-19.
Mehlbauer, Lopez and Bolton are accused of using businesses that did not exist prior to the pandemic and therefore did not qualify for PPP loans. They also exaggerated and fabricated the number of employees, average monthly payroll and gross income of the businesses, court documents say.
The trio also submitted fake tax and payroll forms to support the fabricated payroll and gross income, according to court documents. The fake tax forms were never submitted to the IRS.
Mehlbauer also is accused of transferring at least $49,475.02 in PPP loan funds to herself, court documents say.
Mehlbauer, Lopez and Bolton allegedly spent the rest of the funds on unauthorized personal expenses, including debt payments, car expenses and gambling.
By lying on the PPP loan applications, Mehlbauer, Lopez and Bolton fraudulently obtained at least approximately $195,930.50 in loans and forgiveness of at least approximately $155,477.50 for PPP loans they were not eligible to receive, according to court documents.
Mehlbauer, Lopez and Bolton each face seven counts of wire fraud, and aiding and abetting, while Mehlbauer also faces a potential charge of money laundering.
The case is being investigated by the Utah Federal COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force, which includes Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, the Office of Inspector General’s U.S. Small Business Administration, Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
On May 17, 2021, the U.S. Attorney General’s Office established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice and enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud.
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 Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF web complaint form.
