United States v. Justin Eugene Dowie

Case summary

A former Iowa businessman who defrauded federal and state governments out of more than $150,000 in pandemic benefits, and who possessed firearms and ammunition despite multiple prior felony convictions, was sentenced to five years in federal prison. Justin Eugene Dowie, 41, of Cedar Rapids, received the term after pleading guilty on July 19, 2023, to one count of bank fraud, one count of money laundering, and one count of possessing ammunition as a felon.¹

Evidence at sentencing showed that in 2020 and 2021, Dowie repeatedly submitted false applications to the Small Business Administration seeking Paycheck Protection Program loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans. He applied for approximately $1 million in PPP and EIDL funds; while many attempts failed, he received over $100,000 from the SBA using both his own name and a stolen identity. During the same period, he received over $50,000 in fraudulent unemployment insurance benefits from the State of Iowa, again using his name and a stolen identity. Dowie also stole insurance benefits intended for a victim of the August 2020 derecho that damaged numerous properties in the Cedar Rapids area, and obtained more than $13,000 from a line of credit through separate fraud.¹

Dowie is a convicted felon with sixteen prior criminal convictions, including five drunk-driving convictions, a 2015 conviction for conspiracy to commit a nonforcible felony, and a 2018 attempted-eluding conviction. In late 2022 and early 2023, while prohibited from possessing firearms because of his record, Dowie possessed firearms and ammunition. During that period he also refused to leave another man's home after being allowed to stay there temporarily during a snowstorm, forcing the homeowner to leave his own residence.¹

U.S. District Judge C.J. Williams sentenced Dowie in Cedar Rapids to 60 months' imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered $190,539.65 in restitution to victims including the federal and state governments. The case, filed as 23-CR-10 and 23-CR-55, was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy L. Vavricek and investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the SBA Office of Inspector General.¹

Notes

1. U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Iowa, "Former Iowa Businessman Sentenced to Federal Prison in Pandemic Benefits Fraud Scheme" (original), January 8, 2024. ↩₁ ↩₂ ↩₃ ↩₄

Summary written from the documents on this page; every sentence is sourced.