Former Boston pizzeria owner Dana McIntyre gets TWO YEAR prison sentence for spending pandemic relief funds on alpaca farm

The former owner of a pizzeria in suburban Massachusetts has been sentenced to two years in prison after spending $660,000 in pandemic relief funds on a sprawling Alpaca farm.

Earlier, the owner of Rasta Pasta Pizzeria in Beverly, Dana McIntyre, 59, pleaded guilty to four counts of bank fraud and three counts of money laundering in April after she fraudulently applied for loans for the Paycheck Protection Program to recover the amount. to get.

The FBI said he used the loans for personal expenses, including the purchase of a Vermont ranch and eight alpacas to place there. The stolen money also bought a $14,000 pickup truck and an $8,500 vintage car, the FBI said.

On Wednesday, a federal judge sentenced the Vermont resident to two years and ordered him to pay nearly $680,000 to the federal government, the Justice Department said in a statement.

In a phone interview following the ruling — the latest disciplinary action against PPP abusers — McIntyre, who is also the host of a cryptocurrency radio show, claimed he had viewed the money as a loan he intended to repay.

The FBI said he used the loans for personal expenses, including purchasing a ranch in Vermont, and eight alpacas to place in it (two of the camelids are pictured here)

“It was a pandemic and I panicked,” McIntyre told The New York Times.

Completely remorseful, McIntyre went on to justify his theft of hard-earned American tax dollars.

“It’s just a few numbers and letters and pretty much whatever you want,” he said of filling out the application for a PPP loan, of which more than 11.5 million has been issued.

“Instead of seven employees, I hired 47,” explained the disgraced store owner, who ran the company from his home in Vermont.

‘That’s my crime. That’s the beginning of the crime. And that’s the end of crime.’

Federal officials were far less understanding, telling the since-retired pizza owner to report to jail in January to begin his sentence.

District Court Judge Denise J. Casper imposed the severe sentence, which also includes three years of supervised release and an order to pay $679,156 in restitution and forfeiture, the Massachusetts Attorney’s Office said.

McIntyre, a resident of Grafton, Vermont, is one of more than 3,100 Americans charged with pandemic fraud — instances of theft that left several companies effectively in distress and unable to secure some of the limited aid supply.

The Fed said McIntyre began the fraud just days after the pandemic, in March 2020, and used the names of his adult children to request two additional loans for bogus companies — including one falsely billed as “Dana’s Dank Pies ‘.

After securing the money in September of that year, McIntyre sold the pizza place, fed it, then used most of the ill-gotten government money to buy the animals and a ranch in Grafton, Vermont.

The farm, some 100 miles northwest of Boston, was then billed as a tourist attraction, with a website for the facility advertising the ability to hand feed the animals or simply walk them on a leash .

The Grafton estate also had a farmhouse that was listed on Airbnb, for which McIntrye charged nearly $90 a night

District Court Judge Denise J. Casper handed down the harsh sentence, which includes two years in prison, three years of supervised release and an order for $679,156 in restitution and forfeiture, the Massachusetts Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.

McIntyre owned and operated Rasta Pasta Pizzeria during the fraud and claimed to employ 47 people instead of just seven to secure the gargantuan amount of money.

The following month, he filed for unemployment, fraudulently claiming he was not working or receiving no income because of the pandemic, prosecutors said.

McIntyre then filed a fraudulent application under the Paycheck Protection Program for more than $660,000, falsifying tax forms and pushing information about the pizza parlor’s payroll and employees in the process.

After securing the money in September of that year, McIntyre sold the pizza restaurant, he said, and then used most of the ill-gotten government money to buy the Vermont ranch.

The farm, some 100 miles northwest of Boston, was then billed as a tourist attraction, with a website for the facility advertising the ability to hand feed the animals or simply walk them on a leash .

The Grafton estate also had a farmhouse listed on Airbnb, for which McIntrye charged nearly $90 a night.

The FBI said he spent the rest on himself, including a $14,000 pickup truck and a classic 1950 Hudson.

The Fed said McIntyre, who lives in Vermont and is also the host of a cryptocurrency radio show, started the fraud just days after the pandemic, using the names of his grown children to apply for two additional loans for bogus companies. He defended his actions on Wednesday, saying he intended to repay more than $600,000.

He also made seven $6,500 payments to the broadcaster of his “The Dana Crypto Show,” and spent thousands more on building homes and remodeling kitchens, Massachusetts state officials said Wednesday.

Another $2,000 was spent at a cosmetic spa, also in the Bay State.

FBI Special Agent Jodi Cohen denounced McIntyr’s actions in a press release Wednesday announcing the terms of his sentence.

“Dana McIntyre took advantage of a national catastrophe and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from a limited amount of money set aside to help distressed businesses,” it read.

“Today’s punishment holds him accountable for his selfish criminal behavior.”

McIntryre, meanwhile, told The New York Times, “It wasn’t this mastermind scheme to steal government money and start this alpaca farm.”

He added, “No, it unfolded and took on its own life form.”