‘PEOPLE MAKE MISTAKES’

17 Florida Sheriff’s Deputies Charged With COVID Relief Fraud

The 17 employees fraudulently obtained a total of $500,000 in government relief, prosecutors allege.

More than a dozen deputies with the Broward County Sheriff’s Department were charged Thursday with fraudulently collecting government aid via the Paycheck Protection Program, which was intended to offset financial hardship experienced by small businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic. PPP loans can only be used for business expenses, though U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe explained in a press conference Thursday that the employees allegedly collected $500,000 in total for personal use. Lapointe noted that the alleged fraud didn’t seem to be an organized effort, so the 17 deputies will face separate charges. According to The South Florida Sun Sentinel, the police union representing the officers backed the deputies, with an official saying: “The majority of detention deputies are hard-working, good people. People make mistakes,” he said.