(The Center Square) - A federal jury recently found Charles Lacona, Jr., 67, formerly of Colorado Springs, guilty of two counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering related to fraudulent COVID-19 relief funds he got via the Paycheck Protection Program.

From April 2020 to April 2021, Lacona created and partook in a scheme to defraud a lender of $513,732.50 in PPP loans, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado.

"Lacona inflated payroll costs and gross receipts, made false statements and certifications, and submitted fabricated tax documents and payroll reports," a release explained.

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In that same timeframe, Lacona unsuccessfully applied for more government assistance from the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. 

The man used some of his ill-gotten funds to buy a Cadillac CT6 for $67,704.13.

“This is another case of someone using for personal gain a program meant to help people suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Acting United States Attorney for the District of Colorado Matt Kirsch said. “I want the public to know that we are aggressively prosecuting people who stole from this relief program.”

Sentencing will happen at a later date, the release said.

In May 2021, the Attorney General created the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to use resources from the Department of Justice in partnership to partner with various government agencies to mitigate and prosecute pandemic-related fraud.

"The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts," the release said.

In July 2023, the Attorney General picked the District of Colorado’s U.S. Attorney’s Office to lead one of five national COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force Teams.

The Department of Justice created the Strike Force to bolster existing efforts to combat and prevent coronavirus pandemic relief financial fraud. 

"The Strike Force combines law enforcement and prosecutorial resources and focuses on large-scale, multistate pandemic relief fraud perpetrated by criminal organizations and transnational actors, as well as those who committed multiple instances of pandemic relief fraud," the release said. "The Strike Force uses prosecutor-led and data analyst-driven teams to identify and bring to justice those who stole pandemic relief funds."