A federal judge has sentenced a business owner to one year and one day in prison stemming from a guilty plea to charges of SDVOSB fraud.

The sentence, which also imposes a $399,000 fine, brings an end to a SDVOSB fraud story I first wrote about last year.

According to the Department of Justice, Tyrone Jones met Brian Baumann, a Korean-born service-disabled veteran, while constructing a house for him.  Jones subsequently set up a construction company, listing Baumann as the president and majority owner.  In fact, Baumann played no role in the company, lived out of state, worked a full-time job elsewhere, and had no experience in construction.  The construction company bid upon, and apparently received, federal set-aside contracts.

Last August, Jones pleaded guilty to a charge of defrauding the government by falsely claiming SDVOSB status for the construction company.  Just before the Fourth of July holiday, a federal judge sentenced Jones to a year and a day in prison, plus the $399,000 fine.

I have been on record stating that blatant SDVOSB fraud, like the type Jones admitted to committing, should be punished by prison time.  I am happy to report that Tyrone Jones will now have more than a year in lockup to consider the consequences of falsely obtaining contracts intended for our country’s service-disabled veterans.