Federal district · prosecutions
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa
13 pandemic-relief fraud prosecution records for the Northern District of Iowa, naming 13 defendants. By program: 3 PPP, 1 EIDL, 7 unemployment insurance, 2 other or unclassified. None has a case page in the archive. An amount is stated for 13 of them, from $13,000 to $5,700,000. Source dates run from 2021-01-21 to 2026-05-05.
Cases
13 defendants · 0 with a case page · sorted by amount, largest first
| Defendant | Case page | Program | Charge | Amount | Disposition | Sentence | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Wayne Butikofer | EIDL | theft of livestock, wire fraud, false bankruptcy declaration | $5,700,000 restitution | guilty plea | 188 months | 2024-10-10 | |
| Donald Franklin Trosin | Armstrong Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Paycheck Protection Program Fraud Scheme — USAO Iowa, Northern | PPP, EIDL | One count of Major Fraud Against the United States and one count of Money Laundering Conspiracy | $1,300,000 PPP and EIDL fraud proceeds | guilty plea | 40 months | 2021-07-12 |
| Benjamin Sakyi | Second Man Sentenced to Federal Prison in Paycheck Protection Program Fraud Scheme (DOJ, July 26, 2022) | PPP/EIDL | money laundering, conspiracy | $900,000 fraudulently obtained CARES Act funds laundered | guilty plea | 40 months | 2022-07-26 |
| Jackie L. Smith | Unemployment Insurance | one count of wire fraud | $95,708 approximately $100,000 in federally subsidized unemployment insurance benefits established at guilty plea and sentencing | guilty plea | 42 months | 2026-05-05 | |
| Alvin Lavon Rex | Schaller Man Charged with COVID-19 Related Mail Fraud | UI | mail fraud | $63,070.03 obtained | plea | 60 months | 2021-05-21 |
| Jerry D. Johnson | Iowa Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for his Role in COVID-19 Unemployment Insurance Fraud | UI/PUA | mail fraud | $51,000 unemployment insurance funds received and attempted deposits | plea | 8 months | 2021-07-02 |
| Stephanie Mendenhall | UI | theft of government funds (4 counts), money laundering conspiracy | $35,985 fraudulent UI benefits received | guilty plea | 15 months | 2022-09-20 | |
| Dannish Dontreal Robertson | Unclassified pandemic relief | one count of wire fraud and one count of possession of a firearm by an unlawful user of a controlled substance | $30,000 largest figure in the release | sentenced | 87 months | 2021-12-01 | |
| Denisha Clarice Morrison | Eastern Iowan Sentenced to Federal Prison for Derecho and COVID-19 Pandemic Benefits Fraud | PPP/FEMA | theft of government funds, wire fraud | $27,191.45 stolen FEMA + PPP funds | guilty plea | 18 months | 2025-06-30 |
| Linda Bosquez | Sioux City Woman Pleads Guilty to COVID-19 Related Unemployment Fraud | UI/PUA | theft of government funds | $24,235 stolen government funds | plea | 6 months | 2021-09-20 |
| Larry Neal Wells | Center Point Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for COVID-19 Unemployment Benefits Fraud | UI | wire fraud | $17,000 CARES Act UI benefits from Maine and New York | plea | 5 months | 2021-09-22 |
| Brian Lynn Whorton | Marion Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for COVID-19 Unemployment Benefits Fraud | UI/PUA | wire fraud | $13,740 unemployment funds to which he was not entitled | plea | 9 months | 2021-08-25 |
| Dennis George Chinn | Le Mars Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for COVID-19 Related Unemployment Fraud | UI/PUA | theft of government funds | $13,000 obtained | plea | 3 months | 2021-01-21 |
Data and method
Each row is one row of the pandemic-relief sentences table, printed as that table prints it: defendant, program, charge, amount and its basis, disposition, and the date of the source the row was read from. A blank cell is a blank cell in the table. The sentence column states the months of imprisonment the table records, or the years of probation where it records no custodial term. A case page is linked only where a case page in this district names the defendant; 0 of the 13 rows do. District is the table’s own district field, resolved to this court. Rows whose district field names only a state with more than one federal district are not placed on any district page. A date the table writes in another form is restated as YYYY-MM-DD; a cell that is not a date is printed as it stands. An amount of $1 billion or more is left out: those cells carry a program appropriation quoted in the source release, not a sum attributed to the defendant. Some defendants have more than one row because the table read them from more than one source.