Independence man accused of making $1.4M in false COVID-19 claims sentenced
An Independence man who federal prosecutors said made nearly $1.4 million in fraudulent claims for COVID-19 relief funds has been sentenced to a year in prison.
Richard Schiele Jr., 51, pleaded guilty to a count of filing a false claim in U.S. District Court in Kansas City in October and was sentenced to a year and a day in prison Tuesday. Schiele was also ordered to pay about $130,000 in restitution to the IRS.
As part of the plea agreement documents he signed, Schiele said he had filed tax forms with the IRS in April 2023, making claims for COVID-19 pandemic-era credits against employment taxes for “Schiele Family Own Distribution,” a company he formed that same month. In reality, his corporation didn’t have any employees, prosecutors said.
The IRS sent checks totaling about $479,000 to Schiele, prosecutors said. The federal government was able to recover about $349,000 from the man’s bank account, according to court documents.
An attorney who represented Schiele in the case did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
