Ex-BSO lieutenant pleads guilty to fleecing hundreds of thousands from COVID loan program
A former Broward Sheriff’s Office lieutenant on Wednesday joined a long list of BSO employees who have pleaded guilty to stealing thousands of dollars from a U.S. government-funded loan program meant to help struggling businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ernest Bernard Gonder Jr. admitted in Miami federal court that he fleeced more than $167,000 from the federal Paycheck Protection Program — much more than 17 other BSO employees who were arrested in October on charges of stealing tens of thousands of dollars each from the same program.
Loan proceeds from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, guaranteed by the Small Business Administration, were supposed to cover payroll and other overhead expenses. But Gonder, like the other accused BSO employees, spent the money on himself instead of his purported companies, prosecutors said.
Gonder, 41, who formerly worked in the BSO Department of Detention, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to two counts of wire fraud and now faces up to 20 years in prison for each offense before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams.
His guilty plea to charges filed in January followed the conviction of the first BSO employee to face trial on charges of bilking the Paycheck Protection Program. Stephanie D. Smith, a former BSO deputy school resource officer from Sunrise, was found guilty Tuesday of two counts of wire fraud in Fort Lauderdale federal court, including submitting falsified loan applications for two companies and fraudulently collecting more than $31,000 that she spent on herself.
In October, Smith was among the BSO deputies and corrections officers arrested on charges of fraudulently receiving about $500,000 from the Paycheck Protection Loan and Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs. Both programs were approved by Congress as part of the CARES Act after the COVID-19 pandemic swept the nation in March 2020.
Two loans days apart
Gonder, who resides in Port St. Lucie, submitted a false Paycheck Protection Program loan application in April 2021 on behalf of EBG Properties LLC, in which he fabricated information about the company’s monthly payroll, number of employees and taxes, according to charges filed by prosecutors Marc Anton and Sara Klco.
Gonder, listed as the registered agent of EBG Properties, qualified for a $106,540 loan through a private lender, which disbursed the proceeds to his corporate account at JP Morgan Chase Bank, prosecutors said.
Then, days later, Gonder submitted a second fraudulent PPP loan application on behalf of The Impact Center of Broward County Inc., misrepresenting payroll, employee and tax records.
Gonder, listed as the Impact Center’s president, was again approved by the private lender for a $61,210 loan. The money was disbursed to his other corporate account at JP Morgan Chase Bank, prosecutors said.
Afterward, the ex-BSO official submitted additional falsified records to the private lender and Small Business Administration, claiming that he had used the PPP loan proceeds for legitimate payroll and other allowable expenses so that the loans would be forgiven by the SBA under the pandemic relief program.
Gonder’s wrongdoing stood out among the BSO cases for its size — although the total amount of lost loan money was relatively modest compared to dozens of other COVID-19 loan fraud prosecutions in South Florida. Several offendersused millions of PPP loans to buy expensive Lamborghini, Tesla, Porsche, Mercedes Benz and Bentley automobiles.
Still, the sheer number of BSO employees charged with breaking the law shocked authorities. So far, 12 of the original 17 accused of defrauding the PPP loan program have pleaded guilty. Those sentenced so far have been ordered to pay back their loan proceeds and have received no prison time. Instead, they were sentenced to probation ranging from one year to five years.
Gonder’s guilty plea on Wednesday raises the BSO loan fraud convictions to 13.
At a news conference in October, BSO Sheriff Gregory Tony described the systemic offense as “theft from the American people.”
He said that the investigation began in late 2021 with a probe of a single deputy and evidence from that case led to an evaluation of the entire 5,500-employee agency. He said the internal probe found that 100 deputies and corrections officers applied for COVID-19 business loans, and a referral was made to the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The Paycheck Protection Program allocated about $800 billion in loans through banks that were entirely guaranteed by the Small Business Administration and, in almost all instances, forgiven as long as the money was used for payroll and other legitimate overhead costs, according to the SBA.
