Admitted ACP Fraudster Faces 40 Years in Prison

A Lancaster County Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to defrauding the federal government of more than $741,000. Twenty-five year old Krandon Wenger defrauded the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), according to the DoJ.

The ACP was funded by the 2021 Infrastructure Law and provided financial support to eligible, low-income households, so they could continue to receive broadband services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ACP authorized a monthly reimbursement of $30 per household, or $75 for households on tribal lands, to be paid to a household’s broadband access provider.

Wenger owned K20 Wireless, LLC. In March of 2022, his company applied to become an ACP provider. That April, K20 began to enroll subscribers and submitted monthly certifications for ACP reimbursements.  

Most of K20 Wireless’s reimbursement requests were for subscribers who purportedly lived on tribal lands and, therefore, received the higher reimbursements of $75 per month. However, the DoJ says these tribal ACP claims were false. 

The DoJ says Wenger admitted he had employees and agents of K20 Wireless change the residential addresses of K20 Wireless ACP subscribers from non-tribal lands to tribal lands, before submitting the claims. Because K20 Wireless was entitled to receive only $30 per month for these subscriber households, not $75, Wenger’s fraud scheme caused the FCC to overpay K20 Wireless by approximately $741,726.

Wenger is scheduled to be sentenced on September 28. He pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in U.S. District Court and faces a maximum possible term of 20 years in prison on each, or 40 years behind bars.

By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief