United States Attorney for the District of Nevada Nicholas A. Trutanich speaks during a press conference Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2019.
Saturday, April 18, 2020 | 2 a.m.
The coronavirus pandemic and its unprecedented disruptions has not fractured schemes of those looking to illicitly make a buck. If anything, the perpetrators are only adapting to the times, according to authorities.
The scam artists are going after the recently issued stimulus checks. They’re also looking to take advantage of people’s goodwill via fraudulent fundraisers and their desperation through price gouging, said Nicholas Trutanich, U.S. attorney for the district of Nevada.
Despite the wreckage brought on by COVID-19 in Nevada, where the death toll in just a month had reached 151 as of Friday, Trutanich said criminal enterprises are only driven by greed. Law enforcement has moved quickly to address complaints, unveiling on Monday the Nevada COVID-19 Task Force. “Criminals are always looking for ways to exploit fear and confusion in order to make ill-gotten gains,” Trutanich said.
The task force, announced in conjunction with the Nevada Attorney General’s Office, comprises local, state and federal investigators and prosecutors. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nevada has a dedicated COVID-19 fraud coordinator, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie Mickelson, who is an experienced white-collar crime prosecutor.
Appointed to the specialized position in March, Mickelson “stood up this task force” with already existing law enforcement partnerships, Trutanich said. The tight-knit nature of Nevada agencies makes collaborating and putting a team together easy, he added.
The task force meets every couple of days and has been probing tips of price-gouging and charity scams in Nevada, with perpetrators using existing organizations or creating fraudulent ones, Trutanich said.
Other scams Nevadans should expect to see as the pandemic stretches involve fraudsters selling fake cures or COVID-19 test kits, he said. Upcoming emergency relief funds for residents and business owners are also “ripe” for scammers to target, he said.
The task force hasn’t publicized any possible cases it might be pursuing, nor was it clear how many tips it was pursuing, but Trutanich emphasized that pandemic-related crime wasn’t going to be tolerated.
“This conduct is not going to go on unabated and undeterred,” he said.
This month, the Department of Justice earmarked more than $11 million for Nevada law enforcement to help them address the pandemic. The Department of Public Safety was awarded $7.3 million and local and tribal agencies were given $4.2 million.
The case of Reno’s Peter Lucas, who is accused of stealing at least 400 surgical masks from a VA medical center in Northern Nevada, signals the federal government is taking pandemic-related crimes seriously. Lucas was charged in federal court with one count of theft of health care property, although his arrest was before the task force was formed.
It wasn’t clear what Lucas planned on doing with the four boxes of masks he allegedly stole. He initially said he was giving them to an associate in the medical field, and then said he was going to pass them out to the homeless. He could spend a year in prison and faces a $100,000 fine if convicted.
Most patients and doctors have been at the frontlines in the fight and in desperate need of those supplies. “We need to send a signal that we are there for them, and they’re there for us,” Trutanich said.
People who believe they have been the victim of a scam or price gouging can report incidents to the Nevada Attorney General’s Office at ag.nv.gov or the National Center for Disaster Fraud at 1-866-720-5721 and [email protected].
Useful information to provide includes the reporting peron's full name and contact information, the date and location of the alleged incident, a brief description, and the name and contact information of the suspected perpetrator, if available.
