Joliet man charged with stealing $18,477 from Paycheck Protection Program

A Joliet man with an open felony case has been charged with fraudulently obtaining a $18,477 loan that was provided by the Paycheck Protection Program in 2020.

On Wednesday, Ariel Roberson, 32, was charged with theft, loan fraud, wire fraud and state benefits fraud in a case that was investigated by the Crest Hill Police Department.

Judge Chrystel Gavlin signed a warrant for Roberson’s arrest Tuesday that carried a $200,000 bond. Roberson had not yet been taken to the Will County jail on those charges as of Friday.

Many other law enforcement agencies across Will County have been investigating dozens of cases involving allegations of Paycheck Protection Program loan fraud.

The PPP program delivered loans to struggling businesses to help them make payroll during the COVID-19 pandemic. But federal officials later determined that the program had poor oversight when it came to preventing and detecting fraud.

A criminal complaint filed Wednesday alleged that Roberson obtained a $18,477 PPP loan July 31, 2020, by falsely claiming his “sole proprietor business” had an average monthly payroll of $7,391.

Roberson also was not supposed to receive that loan because he was charged in a 2019 case in Will County with the offenses of being armed habitual criminal, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon and unlawful possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, according to the criminal complaint.

The 2019 case against Roberson still is pending in court.

Roberson was further charged with fraudulently obtaining $2,490 in unemployment benefits in 2021 while he was in custody at the Cook County jail.

Although court records in Will County said Roberson was in the Cook County jail in October and November 2021, there is apparently no record of him being at the jail that year, said Shereen Mohammad, communications specialist for the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.