A federal grand jury in Madison has indicted a 44-year-old Tomah man for misrepresenting his business as veteran-owned to obtain federal contracts for work at Fort McCoy.
Jonathan Walker was charged Wednesday in U.S. Federal District Court in Madison with 10 counts of wire fraud and two counts of making false statements.
Prosecutors allege that Walker, owner and operator of Walker Investment Properties, LLC, sought and obtained federal contracts under the false pretense that his business was a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business. Federal contracting rules give preference to such businesses.
The Department of Defense awarded two contracts to Walker’s business totaling $1,927,536 for HVAC services and fire alarm installation at Fort McCoy from July 2015 to June 2019. The federal government paid invoices to Walker totaling $482,577.
The indictment alleges that Walker is neither a veteran nor did he suffer a disability incurred in the line of duty while active in the U.S. military.
If convicted, Walker faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison on each wire fraud charge and a maximum of 5 years on each false statement charge. The charges against him are the result of an investigation by the Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the General Services Administration.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Graber is handling the prosecution.
___
(c) 2022 the La Crosse Tribune
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
