Massachusetts: Attleboro Man Accused of Spending Pandemic Relief Grant at a Casino
- Federal prosecutors say an Attleboro, Massachusetts, man took a $10,000 pandemic relief grant meant for business costs like payroll and rent and spent thousands of dollars of it at a casino.
- Daquan Dooley, 37, is one of four men indicted on one count each of wire fraud over pandemic relief applications, the U.S.
- According to the charging documents, Dooley applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan, saying he owned a business hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Federal prosecutors say an Attleboro, Massachusetts, man took a $10,000 pandemic relief grant meant for business costs like payroll and rent and spent thousands of dollars of it at a casino.
Daquan Dooley, 37, is one of four men indicted on one count each of wire fraud over pandemic relief applications, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced on Oct. 22, 2026. The charges have not been proven in court, and all four are presumed innocent.
According to the charging documents, Dooley applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan, saying he owned a business hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic. He received a $10,000 EIDL advance, which prosecutors described as a grant that did not have to be paid back. Bank records show he spent thousands of dollars of it at a casino and none of it on business expenses, prosecutors allege. They did not name the casino.
The other three men, Jonathan Arroyo, 43, of Boston; Demetrous Thomas, 36, of Acushnet; and Gianni Williams Johnson, 28, of Boston, are accused of a different kind of pandemic fraud. Prosecutors say each applied for a Paycheck Protection Program loan by claiming to own a business, backed the application with tax information that was never filed with the IRS, and received a forgivable loan of more than $20,000. Bank records show none of them spent the money on payroll, according to the office.
Arroyo, Dooley and Thomas were arrested and appeared in federal court in Boston. Williams Johnson is being held on an unrelated matter in Suffolk Superior Court and will appear in federal court later, according to the office. The Sun Chronicle, Attleboro’s local paper, also reported Dooley’s charge.
Wire fraud carries up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gain or loss, prosecutors said. Massachusetts residents can report suspected benefit fraud to the U.S. Attorney’s Office at 1-855-722-6621.
In a separate case, a Florida woman was convicted in a federal grant-fraud case in which prosecutors said she gambled away hundreds of thousands of dollars at casinos. Game Empress covered that verdict.
Featured image: The John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse in Boston in 2024. Photo: 4300streetcar / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
