3 more men in Will County charged with Paycheck Protection Program loan fraud

Three more people have been charged in Will County with fraudulently obtaining loans provided through a federal program to help struggling small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At least 14 people in Will County have been charged with defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program thus far as part of an ongoing investigation by the Joliet Police Department and other agencies.

The latest defendants include Ryan Reddick, 36, Reginald Rogers, 30, and Adrian Bailey, 21, all of Joliet.

Bailey pleaded guilty Aug. 8 to the unintentional fatal shooting of 24-year-old Dennis Lee in Romeoville. Prosecutors initially charged Bailey’s 19-year-old brother Donta Bailey with PPP loan fraud but then dropped the case.

Reddick has been in the Will County jail since April 8 following his arrest over a traffic stop that turned violent.

Reddick was a passenger in a vehicle April 6 and was shot by a Joliet police officer after he fled from the vehicle while armed with a handgun, according to the Joliet Police Deparmtent. Reddick refused multiple commands regarding the gun, police said.

Reddick was struck three times and briefly hospitalized before he was jailed. The Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force investigation of the officer’s shooting remains open.

Prosecutors alleged in a criminal complaint that Reddick obtained a PPP loan worth $20,833 by falsely claiming his business had gross revenues of $146,183 in 2019.

Prosecutors alleged Rogers also obtained a PPP loan worth $20,833 by falsely claiming his own business had gross revenues of $103,000 in 2019.

Prosecutors further charged Rogers with obtaining $8,097 in unemployment benefits while he was still in the Will County jail. Rogers has been in the jail since Dec. 15.

In the prosecutors’ case against Adrian Bailey, they alleged he fraudulently obtained a $20,605 PPP loan March 24, 2021, and fraudulently obtained another PPP loan worth $20,805 on June 22, 2021.

Adrian Bailey also was accused by prosecutors of fraudulently obtaining $39,920 in unemployment benefits in Illinois.

In February 2022, prosecutors had charged Makhi Jones, 28, of Joliet with fraudulently obtaining a $20,207 PPP loan and receiving $19,308 in unemployment benefits by falsely claiming he was unemployed due to lack of work.

Jones was charged Aug. 19 with aggravated battery to a Bolingbrook police officer and leaving a child alone in a vehicle while he fled from officers on foot.