Two days after a former Alabama sheriff pleaded guilty to lying on loan applications to get funds for his gambling debts, his business partner was federally indicted on wire fraud charges for allegedly defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program.
Danny Lee Beard, Jr., the business partner of ex-Clarke County Sheriff William “Ray” Norris who in 2011 formed Haddco, LLC — a company that buys, sells, trades and services vehicles and equipment — was initially charged in May with nine counts of false statement to a federally insured institution in connection with the PPP and other loans.
On Wednesday, some of the charges against Beard were replaced with wire fraud, according to the superseding indictment filed in federal court in Mobile.
Prosecutors allege Beard lied on two PPP loan applications for $74,207 each by falsely stating he was paying payroll taxes for all his employees.
On the second loan, Beard allegedly used the funds “for personal expenses unrelated to payroll costs, rent/mortgage interest, utilities, and covered operational expenses.”
Beard also completed the application for forgiveness of the first PPP loan, which was “fraudulently obtained,” according to the indictment.
Norris’ business partner also allegedly lied that he owned a piece of equipment and that he was not attempting to sell a tractor-tailer while obtaining a more than $50,000 commercial loan by Camden-based Town County National Bank.
Norris, the former Clarke County sheriff who was indicted federally in the Southern District of Alabama on four counts of the crime earlier this year, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of making a false statement to a federally insured institution.
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