Three Peoria men sentenced for bilking the Paycheck Protection Program

PEORIA — Three Peoria residents were sentenced in federal court Sept. 5 for making false statements to receive money from the Paycheck Protection Program, a federal program created to help small businesses in the wake of the COVID pandemic shutdown.

In their applications, the men claimed to be the sole proprietor of a barber shop, even though none of them had a registered barber shop, employees, a payroll or business-related expenses, or were licensed barbers, according to a news release issued by the United States Attorney’s Office Central District of Illinois.

Kendall A. Mack, 26, was sentenced to three years of probation and imprisonment for time served. He was also ordered to pay $39,239.08 in restitution.

Rasheem McCree, 38, who also fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits from five states, including the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation; the Arizona Department of Economic Security; the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry; the New York State Department of Labor; and the Illinois Department of Employment Security, was sentenced to 27 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $89,981.34 in restitution.

Adrian Lamont Morris, 27, who also filed for unemployment benefits from Illinois, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 24 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $60,642 in restitution.

McCree and Morris were ordered to report to the Bureau of Prisons on Nov. 14.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria men sentenced for bilking the Paycheck Protection Program