A Norway man has pleaded guilty to defrauding a COVID-19 pandemic relief program for businesses.
Merton Weed Jr., 51, changed his plea Monday in U.S. District Court in Portland, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. He had entered a not guilty plea in February.
Weed filed eight fraudulent loan applications under the federal Paycheck Protection Program between May 2020 and January 2021. He received more than $240,000 under the relief program, the U.S. attorney’s office said Monday.
As part of his applications, Weed submitted false information about monthly payroll and the number of employees, all supported by falsified payroll and bank records, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Weed, who previously lived in Belfast, allegedly spent that money on personal expenses.
He faces up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine up to $250,000. Weed will be sentenced at a later date.
Weed was the fourth Mainer to be charged with defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program.
Mark X. Haley II, 43, of South Thomaston pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining more than $1 million in loans under that program. He was sentenced earlier this month to more than a year in prison.
Craig Franck, 40, of Levant was sentenced in January to 33 months in federal prison for using more than $300,000 from two loan programs authorized by Congress during the pandemic.
Nathan Reardon, 45, of Skowhegan and Plymouth, was the first Mainer to be charged and convicted of fraudulently obtaining funds from a pandemic relief program. He pleaded guilty in July 2022 and was sentenced to 20 months in prison.
He was freed from prison earlier this year, but found himself back behind bars for nine months for violating his conditions of release.