The owner of Clearfiber Inc., an internet service provider in Monongalia County, pleaded guilty to money laundering Wednesday, admitting to defrauding a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant program, according to U.S. District Attorney William Ihlenfeld’s office.
Timothy Chad Henson, 35, of Morgantown, was charged with the crime in U.S. District Court on May 1 following an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations and the USDA Office of the Inspector General.
Court records state in or around October 2019, Henson, on behalf of Clearfiber, applied for and was awarded more than $1.9 million in grant funding through the USDA’s Community Connect Program. The program gave money to provide high-speed internet services to rural customers in Monongalia and Marion counties.
According to court documents, Henson “made false and misleading statements on the application and submitted false invoices to the USDA electronically, causing the USDA, on Sept. 28, 2020, to deposit the amount of $340,464 into an account held by Clearfiber Inc.”
After receiving the $340,000 deposit, Henson then transferred $322,900 into another bank account for his personal use.
Henson now faces up to 10 years in federal prison. His sentence will be determined by a federal district court judge after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
