Police in Illinois arrested 15 people after they allegedly used funds from Paycheck Protection Program loans to bond out of jail.
After a data investigation was performed by police, several inmates at the Will County Jail were found to have allegedly applied and received PPP loans that were then used to bond themselves out of jail for their felony cases, according to FOX 32.
PPP recipients cannot be charged with a felony in order to be eligible.
Federal agencies and police have identified 25 people who were in jail and facing felony charges when applying for PPP loans that would go to fake businesses, and said 15 have been arrested and charged with charges such as wire fraud in "Operation Triple P."
Joliet Police Department Detective James Kilgore said that police didn't find business licenses matching the addresses used on the PPP loans.
"The majority of them also use their home address. So we did several periodic spot checks on the residence," Kilgore said. "It just looked like a residence. There was no actual business there. We also checked with the City of Joliet for any type of business license for that address or anybody in that family, which also was negative results."
