A Bronx NYPD officer is now facing criminal charges after prosecutors say he siphoned off COVID-19 relief funds that were supposed to help struggling small businesses. An indictment accuses 41-year-old Officer Edward Delgado, assigned to the 41st Precinct, of falsifying paperwork to collect more than $40,000 in Paycheck Protection Program loans in early 2021. Delgado has been arraigned, released on his own recognizance, and is scheduled to return to Bronx court on April 13.
Alleged PPP Scam Laid Out by Prosecutors
According to News12 Bronx, prosecutors say Delgado submitted two separate Paycheck Protection Program applications between February and April 2021, each for about $20,125. In those filings, he allegedly claimed to own and operate a security business in order to qualify for the pandemic relief money.
The Bronx District Attorney's Office has charged him with grand larceny, falsifying business records, and criminal possession of stolen property. District Attorney Darcel D. Clark called the allegations "especially egregious" in light of Delgado’s role as a police officer, News12 Bronx reports.
Bronx Precinct Ties and Court Status
Delgado is assigned to the NYPD’s 41st Precinct, which the NYPD lists at 1035 Longwood Avenue in the South Bronx. He was arraigned on the indictment and released on his own recognizance, with his next appearance in Bronx criminal court set for April 13. The Bronx District Attorney’s Office announced the charges and is overseeing the prosecution.
Pandemic Relief Fraud Scrutiny Extends Beyond One Cop
This is not the first time law enforcement officers have been swept up in alleged COVID relief scams. Since 2020, federal authorities have brought multiple cases tied to pandemic aid programs. In August 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn charged two NYPD detectives and others in an alleged Paycheck Protection Program fraud scheme, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
In that earlier case, prosecutors said the detectives helped prepare false tax documents and submit bogus PPP applications, using loan and tax records to trace what they described as improper claims. Authorities have repeatedly pointed to those paper trails as key tools in unwinding suspected fraud.
How the Paycheck Protection Program Was Supposed to Work
The Paycheck Protection Program was a federal loan initiative run by the Small Business Administration, created to help small employers keep workers on the payroll during the height of the COVID-19 crisis. The SBA set rules for how businesses could apply, how loans could be forgiven, and how claims would be reviewed.
Those guidelines later became the framework for investigations into suspicious applications. Prosecutors say that when funds are diverted through fraud, it effectively robs the small businesses the PPP was designed to protect.
What Comes Next in the Bronx Case
The Bronx District Attorney’s Office presented the indictment to the court, and Delgado has now entered the formal criminal process. He is scheduled to return to court on April 13, according to News12 Bronx. Delgado is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty in a court of law, and the case is expected to move through the Bronx criminal courts in the coming months.
