A longtime Boston city official who has overseen the city's municipal protective services division since 2008 has agreed to plead guilty to one count of wire fraud tied to a pandemic-era small business loan. Reuben Taylor, 40, currently serves as Boston's director of municipal protective services, a security unit within the city's property management department.
According to The Boston Globe, Taylor submitted a pandemic loan application in 2021 and received a $20,844 Paycheck Protection Program loan. He claimed at the time that he worked as an auto mechanic in 2019 and that the loan proceeds would cover payroll for that purported business, the Globe reports. Taylor then sought and received forgiveness of the loan, which the Small Business Administration forgave in September 2021.
Court filings cited by the Globe show a plea deal has now been filed in court. Prosecutors are expected to seek one year of probation for Taylor rather than time behind bars, along with nearly $21,000 in restitution — a figure that roughly matches the original loan amount.
A Pattern Among Massachusetts Pandemic Fraud Cases
Taylor's case is not the first in Massachusetts involving a PPP loan obtained through alleged misrepresentation and later forgiven by the government. A retired Massachusetts State Police sergeant was separately charged and agreed to plead guilty to allegedly fraudulently obtaining a PPP loan that was later forgiven, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts.
The scope of pandemic-loan fraud nationally has been substantial. A fraud alert from the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee identified 69,323 questionable Social Security numbers used to obtain $5.4 billion from the SBA's COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and the Paycheck Protection Program combined. A separate 2022 inspection by the SBA Office of Inspector General examined the agency's handling of potentially fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loans more broadly.
What Wire Fraud Charges Can Carry
Federal wire fraud charges can carry significant statutory penalties, even though prosecutors in Taylor's case are not seeking incarceration. Per the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts, wire fraud provides for up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater, with sentences ultimately imposed by a federal district court judge under applicable sentencing guidelines and statutes.
The specifics of when Taylor's plea will be formally entered, along with the court, assigned judge, and full terms of the agreement, were not detailed in the available filings. It also remains unclear whether the city of Boston or Taylor himself has issued any public response to the case.
