BAKER CITY — A 32-year-old Baker City man who pleaded guilty in June to receiving a $145,200 federal COVID-19 relief loan on behalf of a fictitious company and then using the money for personal purposes, including buying a $49,000 car, was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison on Thursday, Sept. 16.

Jeremy Michael Clawson pleaded guilty on June 8 to one count of theft of public money.

As part of the plea agreement, Clawson also agreed to pay $125,200 in restitution to the U.S. Treasury.

Prosecutors and Clawson’s attorney stipulated a two-year prison term, but they recommended that U.S. District Court Chief Judge Marco A. Hernandez reduce Clawson’s federal sentence to 10 months because he is serving a 19-month sentence at the Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario.

The state prison sentence came after Clawson pleaded guilty on Sept. 29, 2020, in Baker County Circuit Court to attempting to elude a police officer and driving under the influence of intoxicants on Aug. 21, 2020. Baker City Police officer Justin Prevo arrested Clawson at 11:45 p.m. on Aug. 21, 2020, at the intersection of Second Street and Auburn Avenue, according to court records. Clawson was driving the 2016 Dodge Challenger he bought with part of the federal COVID-19 loan.

The fraud case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service in cooperation with the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General and Baker City Police Department. Clawson was prosecuted by Ryan W. Bounds, assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.

“This case shows the American people that their law enforcement and Attorney’s Office are taking CARES Act fraud seriously,” Justin Bourne, resident agent in charge of the Secret Service Portland Resident Office, said in a press release. “This investigation is a prime example of the Secret Service’s investigative mission; to protect the United States financial infrastructure. This case illustrates the strong partnership between the Secret Service, U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General, the Baker City Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”

Clawson’s arrest in Baker City happened 10 days after he deposited $145,200 from a federal loan into an account at Umpqua Bank that Clawson and his girlfriend had opened.

Clawson received the Economic Injury Disaster Loan through the Small Business Administration (SBA), according to U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams.

That was one of the financial aid programs included in the CARES Act that Congress passed in late March 2020.

According to court documents, shortly after depositing the $145,200, Clawson made multiple large cash withdrawals at the drive-thru window of the Umpqua Bank branch in Baker City.

On Aug. 17, 2020, he received a $49,905 cashier’s check from the bank to buy the Dodge Challenger.

Umpqua Bank investigators noted the unusual activity on Clawson’s account and reported it to the SBA.

Federal agents seized the Dodge Challenger and approximately $50,000 in cash derived from the fraudulent EIDL pursuant to seizure warrants issued by the federal court and voluntary abandonment of funds in third parties’ possession.

SBA loan documents showed that the loan was made to benefit Halperin Manufacturing Company in San Diego, California. Though there is no record of any such company, the loan application listed the company’s owner and claimed it employed 350 people. Investigators contacted the person listed as the owner, but that person denied owning or being affiliated with any such company.

The purported owner also told SBA investigators that the company’s supposed address in San Diego was that individual’s personal residence and not a commercial property with 350 employees.

In early September 2020, investigators from the SBA and the U.S. Secret Service learned about Clawson’s arrest near Baker City while driving the Dodge Challenger.

Clawson later told authorities that he had received a large inheritance from his father, including $30,000 in cash he had on his person during a subsequent arrest.

On Sept. 11, investigators interviewed Clawson at the Baker County Jail. Clawson claimed to have received the $145,200 from a woman with whom he had an online dating relationship. He said he didn’t know what to do with the money and, after he stopped communicating with the woman, he started spending the money. Clawson admitted to using the SBA money to purchase the Dodge Challenger and several other vehicles, according the U.S. Attorney’s Office.