PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – After already serving a prison sentence for an armed robbery, a Portland man will be behind bars once again — this time for stealing COVID relief funds, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oregon announced.
Court documents show that after completing his initial 70-month prison sentence, 43-year-old Dimitrius Nicholai Pryce was released in February 2020, just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Just several months later in July 2020, officials say Pryce applied for an Economic Impact Disaster Loan (EIDL) for a fraudulent “entertainment venue” business he claimed generated a revenue of $53,000 in the year prior to the pandemic.
On the applications, Pryce denied that he had been on any form of parole or probation after a felony conviction within the five years prior, according to court documents.
Authorities say the Small Business Association then approved Pryce’s application for a loan of $25,000 in EIDL funds — $21,000 of which he withdrew in cash on the first day. Within three months, officials said he had spent the entire sum.
Pryce went on to submit an additional three fraudulent EIDL applications in January 2021, according to the USAOR’s office. He was, however, denied on all three.
Pryce was indicted on a charge of wire fraud by a Portland federal grand jury in February 2022. He pled guilty to the charge in October and has since been sentenced to eight months in prison with three years of supervised release.
Pryce has also been ordered to pay the SBA nearly $25,000 in restitution.