(Sioux City)– A former sergeant in the Cuban military who obtained fraudulent checks through the Paycheck Protection Program was sentenced earlier this week to four years in federal prison.
48-year-old Yovany Ciero of Mason City, formerly of Cuba, Colombia and Venezuela, was convicted by a jury on three counts of wire fraud, 23 counts of money laundering, one count of engaging in a monetary transaction in property derived from unlawful activity and one count of money laundering conspiracy.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, evidence showed Ciero crossed the Mexican border nearly 20 years ago after his request for a visa to re-enter the U.S was denied. In 2020 Ciero was working at an Algona meatpacking plant during the onset of the covid pandemic. Beginning in July 2020, Ciero and over 100 other immigrants from Cuba obtained fraudulent PPP loans by falsely claiming they were self-employed and each had earned about $100,000 in gross income in 2019 when they actually worked at the meatpacking plant or elsewhere.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Ciero was one of six involved in the scheme. Evidence showed that over $4 million in fraudulent PPP loan applications were submitted, resulting in the government losing more than $2.4 million.
Ciero is the 5th person sentenced in the scheme. In December 2024, 41-year-old Dinneris Matos Delgado of Oklahoma, formerly of Algona, Storm Lake and Cuba, was sentenced to 10 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $61,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud. Also in December of last year, 59-year-old Ada Irma Rodriguez Fontaine of Florida, formerly of Storm Lake and Cuba, was sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to pay a little more than $75,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud. In May of this year, 41-year-old Yordanis Perez Velazquez of Florida, formerly of Algona and Cuba, was sentenced to 5 months in prison and ordered to pay a little more than $111,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud. And in July of this year, 44-year-old Maikel Sanchez Garcia of Florida, formerly of Algona and Cuba, was sentenced to 11 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $139,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to one count each of wire fraud and money laundering.
