Judge sentences Plymouth man for stealing pandemic relief money

BOSTON – A Plymouth man was sentenced to supervised release for stealing COVID-19 relief money, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Ferris Brooks, 41, was sentenced June 3 by U.S. Senior District Court Judge William G. Young to three years of supervised release, with the first six months to be served in home confinement. Brooks pled guilty in February to stealing government property. 

From April to December 2020, Brooks applied for government benefits, both in his own name and in the names of friends and family, that contained false information, prosecutors said.

They said Brooks applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan with the U.S. Small Business Administration in the name of a fake business and applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and filed tax returns for Economic Impact Payments in the names of friends and family that contained false employment information.

He sent payments from the fraudulent claims to bank accounts that he controlled and split the proceeds with his friends and family. The fraudulent claims paid out more than $150,000 in pandemic relief money.