Mesa nonprofit leader sentenced for fraud -- again

Dec. 19—The founder and CEO of a Mesa food bank and housing program has been sentenced to a year in federal prison plus three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to felony tax fraud earlier this year.

The U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona indicted Eric Jenkins in 2021 on three counts of making "false, fictitious, fraudulent" claims on tax forms filed in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

It's the second time in 10 years that Jenkins has pleaded guilty to fraud charges. The last time, in 2013, he admitted to bilking the Federal Communications Commission out of almost $500,000 for claimed digital antenna installations that turned out to be fictitious.

Following the latest fraud plea, Jenkins was sentenced and ordered to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on Dec. 1.

In response to a request for comment, Streets of Joy sent a statement: "Streets of Joy exists to serve our community.

"While our founder is on leave from his governance role, Streets of Joy has a strong executive leadership team in place to ensure that services to our community will continue under the same vision and mission."

Last week, cars could be seen lined up at the organization's facility, waiting to receive a food box at Streets of Joy's regular Wednesday afternoon food distribution at its facility near University and Mesa drives.

The organization provides free food and clothing and also operates transitional housing programs for men. Participants in the transitional and second chance program for those exiting incarceration agree to work in exchange for housing.

According to Jenkins' guilty plea on the tax fraud charges, he filed a W-2 form in 2019 falsely claiming that his for-profit company PrimeX produced an income of $167,648, withheld $41,241 and lost $136,465.

The "completely fictitious" income, withholdings and losses resulted in a claimed tax refund of $42,746 that year.

The other two counts in the indictment alleged similar fraudulent filings the prior two years for slightly smaller amounts.

"I, Eric Bernard Jenkins, claimed false refunds based on fictitious wages and federal income tax withholding claimed on Forms W-2, submitted from Arizona, purportedly from my company, PrimeX," the signed plea agreement states.

"I filed three false claims for refund, which totaled $117,803. I acknowledge that PrimeX stopped doing business as early as 2010 and that my wife, Danielle Jenkins, did not actually receive any wages from PrimeX during that time period."

PrimeX Technology Inc. is registered with the Arizona Corporation Commission, listing Eric Jenkins as the director and his wife, Danielle Jenkins, as the president.

In the plea deal, the U.S. Attorney agreed not to bring charges against Danielle Jenkins norrequest more than the low end of the sentencing guidelines for the felony fraud count.

A violation of 18 U.S.C. § 287 (False, Fictitious, Fraudulent Claims) is punishable by a maximum term of five years in prison, court documents state.

Jenkins was also ordered to pay $233,596 in restitution to the government.

All of this was a distant echo of a court case in 2013, in which Jenkins admitted he submitted invoices to the FCC though he "knew the transaction involved 'criminally derived property.'"

In the 2013 plea agreement, Jenkins said he agreed to do business with the government during a transition from analog to digital television.

Under federal law, all full-power television stations in the United States were required to stop broadcasting their signals in analog format and to begin broadcasting in digital format by June 2009. This change was called the digital television (DTV) transition.

In 2009, after Congress allocated millions of dollars to facilitate the DTV transition, "I submitted several bids to the FCC in an attempt to participate in this process," Jenkins said.

He was awarded two contracts, for "PrimeX to complete approximately 11,000 DTV-related installations ... in return for approximately $728,000."

Jenkins admitted to submitting invoices for more than $500,000, which claimed PrimeX did more than 8,000 installations.

"In fact, PrimeX had completed very few, if any, of the claimed installations," Jenkins admitted.

In 2013, he was ordered to repay $493,610 and was placed on a five-year probation.

Jenkins told the Tribune in 2021 that being forced to shut down PrimeX was both a blessing and a curse.

The FCC case "drove me to my true calling: Helping homeless people and people who don't have anything," he said.