Johnson City man guilty of defrauding COVID relief program

A Johnson City man must serve two years in prison and pay more than $100,000 in restitution for reportedly defrauding a COVID-19 relief program meant for small businesses. Ketan Ghutadaria, 53, pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft after defrauding the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program in 2020. Ghutadaria used a business owner’s personal identification information, without their knowledge or authority, to apply for an EIDL on behalf of a local trucking company. Ghutadaria must serve two years in prison. He’ll be under supervised release for one year following his sentence and must pay the full $100,300 in restitution.