A Pennsylvania man has pleaded guilty after prosecutors say he bilked a pandemic broadband assistance program out of roughly $741,000 through a scheme that falsely claimed higher tribal reimbursements.
Krandon Wenger, 25, of Lititz, Pennsylvania, admitted guilt this week to two counts of wire fraud for his role in what federal filings describe as a deliberate exploitation of the Affordable Connectivity Program (“ACP”). He owned and ran K20 Wireless, LLC, which officials say applied to be an ACP broadband provider in early 2022 and soon began enrolling customers and submitting reimbursement claims. The government says the scheme inflated reimbursement rates by claiming many subscribers lived on tribal lands when they did not.
The ACP, funded by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, was meant to keep low income households connected during the COVID-19 crisis by reimbursing providers that serve eligible customers. Standard ACP reimbursement was $30 per household per month, with an elevated $75 per household for those truly on tribal lands. Prosecutors say that difference is precisely what made this case attractive to the defendants who misreported subscriber addresses.
According to charging documents, K20 Wireless’s application was approved in April 2022 and the company began certifying subscribers for monthly payments immediately after. Most of the reimbursement requests submitted by K20 Wireless were for the higher $75 tribal rate. Investigators concluded those tribal claims were false and that addresses had been altered before claims were filed.
The core of the alleged fraud was a scheme to change residential addresses in ACP records from non-tribal to tribal locations so K20 Wireless would receive $75 instead of $30 per household. Because the higher tribal rate was paid to providers, the scheme generated significant overpayments to K20 Wireless. Prosecutors estimate the federal overpayment at approximately $741,726 as a result of those falsified claims.
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The defendant was charged by information last month; with this plea, he has waived prosecution by indictment. By admitting the facts in court, Wenger has accepted responsibility for conduct that federal authorities say directly siphoned emergency broadband relief away from households that needed it. He faces a sentencing date set for September 28 and faces up to 20 years in prison on each wire fraud count, reflecting the seriousness with which these cases are now treated.
The investigation was led by the FBI with assistance from the Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau, and the case is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Francis A. Weber. Federal prosecutors emphasize that pandemic-era programs created urgent needs and large flows of money, and bad actors who abused those systems betrayed public trust. That betrayal is exactly what tougher enforcement units are meant to stop.
On April 7 the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division, the “Fraud Division,” which focuses on rooting out large-scale fraud against the American people. That effort ties directly into broader Republican priorities on accountability and stopping waste, fraud, and abuse. The Department’s anti-fraud work also supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within federal benefit programs.
The case is a reminder that relief programs, even those created for emergencies, need both oversight and consequences when they are abused. The facts laid out by investigators describe an organized effort to subvert program rules for profit, and prosecutors say they will continue to pursue similar schemes wherever they appear. With new enforcement mechanisms in place, federal authorities are signaling that misusing pandemic-era benefits will carry steep penalties.
