Eleven people charged with fraudulent scheme to obtain pandemic-assistance funds
Mark Hofmann/For the Observer-Reporter
Troopers Forrest Allison, left, and Jeffrey Schaeffer, right, announced the arrest of 11 people who allegedly fraudulently received pandemic aid through a Connellsville auto dealership.
Mark Hofmann/For the Observer-Reporter
Charges have been filed against these 11 individuals over an alleged scheme to fraudulently receive pandemic aid money.
Eleven Fayette County residents were charged in an alleged scheme to fraudulently receive funds from pandemic aid programs through a Connellsville auto dealership.
Pennsylvania State Police said Tuesday those involved defrauded the Pennsylvania Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program (PUA) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) of nearly $344,000.
According to police, Joshua DeWitt, owner of Red Carpet Auto Sales, also known as RC Auto Sales, and Terry Newmeyer, a salesman at the business, filled out applications for approximately $311,301 in PUA funds and approximately $32,300 in PPP assistance.
“They assisted customers in applying for and receiving funds fraudulently,” Trooper Forrest Allison said. “In some cases, the funds were used to purchase vehicles from the dealership; in other cases, they (the customers) paid a $500 fee for the assistance in receiving funds.”
A total of 5,779 counts relating to 264 criminal felony and misdemeanor charges were filed against DeWitt, 35; Newmeyer, 44; Allison Kalp, 34; Tony Leasure, 49; DeWayne Pirl, 55; Barbie Pirl, 34; Cherish Gradek, 43; Robert Travis, 43; Adam Brownfield, 25; Montana Neice, 22; and Lindsay Custer, 21.
Captain Jim Cuttitta of the state police Bureau of Criminal Investigation said the residents of Fayette County as well as Pennsylvania citizens should be angry about misuse of pandemic funds meant to help those in need.
“Anytime government funds for the CARES Act are misused, it is fraudulent activity and takes advantage of government funding. That money is intended for people who need the funding,” Cuttitta said. “In this instance, these individuals certainly committed fraud against the system.”
Allison said Kalp, DeWitt’s girlfriend, was charged because she allegedly knowingly used the funds that were fraudulently received.
The remaining eight individuals were RC Auto Sales customers who allegedly took part in receiving the fraudulent funds.
Allison said investigators learned of the scheme through an anonymous tip. He said there were customers with different levels of culpability involved, many of whom knew they weren’t entitled to the funds.
The complaints were filed pursuant to the approval granted by a Fayette County Grand Jury on Oct. 26, and prosecution of the cases will be handled by the Fayette County district attorney’s office.
Allison said there still could be additional recipients of those funds out there, and asked for anyone who had any dealings with RC Auto Sales between April 18 and Oct. 13 to contact the district attorney’s office at 724-430-1245.
Because the case is still ongoing, more people coming forward could mean additional charges filed against DeWitt and Newmeyer, police said.