As federal investigators looked into a violent street gang in Tampa, prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office had a hunch.
An operation that traffics drugs and arms itself, like any enterprise, needs operating capital to run day to day, it needs money to make money. And what do criminal organizations do when they need money? They don’t walk into a bank and simply ask for a line of credit.
Armed with that understanding, and experience from previous cases, federal prosecutors in Tampa began searching the financial records of gang members and discovered several had applied for and, by committing fraud, illegally received about $3 million set aside for COVID-19 relief.
Earlier this year, three members of the gang — Keaujay Hornsby, 26, Kareem Spann, 27, and Tywon Spann, 25 — pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy connected to violent crimes, drug trafficking and COVID relief fraud. Several other members also pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit fraud and identity theft.
While the investigation and prosecution of the street gang makes for great headlines, it is just one case in a much larger effort by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida to track down COVID relief fraud perpetrators. The office, to date, has prosecuted 34 defendants who allegedly defrauded the government of nearly $51 million. Of those, 25 have been found guilty and nine are awaiting trial.
And, says U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg, the team…
