A Cheyenne couple has been ordered to pay over $170,000 in restitution and serve five years of supervised probation for fraud in a case that involved COVID 19 relief money as well as housing assistance through the Cheyenne Housing Authority.
That’s according to the office of U.S. Attorney for Wyoming Darin Smith.
According to the release, Sean and Victoria Madigan, both 35 of Cheyenne, were both sentenced to five years of supervised probation for crimes related to making false statements and wire fraud. Sean was sentenced on June 6 and the court ordered him to pay $161,175 in restitution to the State of Wyoming. Sean was also ordered to pay $12,864 in restitution, joint and several with his co-defendant Victoria, to the Cheyenne Housing Authority. Victoria was sentenced on September 10 and the court also ordered her to pay $12,864, to be paid joint and several with Sean, to the Cheyenne Housing Authority.
Background Of Case
The Madigans were a married couple with three children in Cheyenne. The ran a coffee shop in the Frontier Mall at the time they were receiving help through the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program. The release says they used the same bank account for household expenses and the coffee shop. But according to the release they didn’t divulge the money from the coffee shop to Cheyenne Housing Authority when applying for housing help.
The release says that while making false statement to Cheyenne Housing Authority is not directly lying to a federal agency, it’s still “a matter within the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.”
When money to help businesses struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic became available, Sean Madigan used the coffee shop to fraudulently get COVID-19 relief money, according to the release. While the COVID money was supposed to be used for the business only, the Madigans used part of it for household daily living expenses.
In the words of the release:“Some argue that white collar crime is a victimless crime, but that could not be further from the truth. We all end up paying when someone defrauds the government—the Madigan’s actions are an outright theft from American taxpayers,” said U.S Attorney Darin Smith. We are grateful for HUD’s extensive investigation which exposed the calculated efforts of this couple to exploit government programs.”
“The defendants allegedly engaged in a complex, multi-agency fraud scheme that diverted over $300,000 in critical taxpayer dollars intended to support struggling businesses during an unprecedented pandemic, while also receiving HUD housing assistance through a program that was intended for low income families ” said Special Agent-in-Charge Machelle Jindra with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG). “HUD OIG remains steadfast in its commitment to working with our prosecutorial partners to aggressively pursue those who engage in activities that threaten the integrity of HUD programs.”
Highway Patrol Cruisers from A-Z (actually it stops at W)
Gallery Credit: American Association of Troopers