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SALT LAKE CITY — A Park City man accused of falsely claiming he had millions of masks to sell is now accused of new crimes related to COVID-19 pandemic loans.
A federal grand jury indicted John Anthony Taylor on two counts of making a false statement on a loan or credit application and one count of money laundering, according to court records unsealed Wednesday. The grand jury indicted Taylor on March 9.
Taylor received two different kinds of loans made available through the CARES Act, which provided temporary financial relief during the COVID-19 outbreak. Taylor allegedly filed applications for an economic injury disaster loan and a paycheck protection program loan, and he later received money under false pretenses, court documents allege.
The new charges accuse Taylor of receiving $36,500 from an economic injury disaster loan and roughly $15,600 from a paycheck protection program loan, despite being ineligible for receiving the funds under federal law. The indictment says Taylor transferred part of the money to a different account and he purchased a 2014 GMC Sierra pickup truck for over $22,000 with the proceeds.
In the loan applications, Taylor allegedly stated that he had never been indicted or charged with a crime and was not on any type of probation or parole. However, at that time Taylor was on pretrial release in connection with a different charge from 2020.
Taylor was charged with wire fraud in April 2020, according to court records. A complaint had been made to the FBI regarding Taylor and another man making claims they could be middlemen for bulk orders for millions of 3M branded N95 respirator masks, which prompted the bureau to investigate, charging documents say.
An undercover FBI agent reached out to the two in April 2020 to purchase bulk orders of masks, and the two told the agent they would be able to facilitate the bulk purchase. However, representatives for 3M told investigators they had no records of purchases from either Taylor or the other man. Taylor was charged on April 29. Taylor told the undercover agent that he had contacts for "a million, 30 million, 60 million (masks) for a couple different state governments," according to a news release from the Utah U.S. Attorney's Office.
Taylor was granted pretrial release after he was charged in April 2020, and he was told he could remain free if he abided by release conditions. One condition was that he not commit any new crimes, and prosecutors argued in a motion filed Wednesday that he should be held in jail without bail due to his new indictment.
The GMC pickup is part of the property that federal law enforcement wants to seize as part of the indictment, as well as the money Taylor received.
Taylor was booked into the Weber County Jail on March 10. His next appearance in court is scheduled for Monday both for an initial appearance in his new case and for a hearing to discuss him violating his pretrial release in his earlier case.
