Man starts COVID relief scam days after he’s released from murder sentence, feds say

Days after being released from prison for a 1999 murder conviction, a Pennsylvania man started a series of COVID-19 relief scams that would ultimately net him around $140,000 — until he was caught, federal officials said.

Kyle McLemore, 44, of Philadelphia is accused of filing fraudulent COVID relief applications over multiple months during the summer of 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice announced in a statement Tuesday, Nov. 9.

The first phony application was sent in May 2020, less than a week after McLemore was released from prison on parole, the statement said.

McLemore was convicted of shooting four people, killing one and injuring three, after a high school basketball game on the University of Pennsylvania campus, according to the statement.

At his sentencing in April 1999, McLemore denied having any part in the shooting, saying of the victim, “I didn’t even know [the] guy,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported at the time, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian.

“I truly feel sorry for his family because they’ve lost a son, just as my family will lose me,” he said.

McLemore served 21 years behind bars on the murder charges, the DoJ statement said.

He sought Pandemic Unemployment Assistance with the first application, lying that he was eligible for employment during a period of time when he was still in prison, and was given $14,555, the statement read.

Then in June 2020, McLemore sent a second application, this time to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, which was intended to help businesses struggling financially due to the pandemic.

He claimed to be the owner of a tobacco business and submitted a counterfeit business license along with his application, according to DoJ officials. The Small Business Administration sent McLemore $125,000.

“The COVID-19 pandemic brought massive economic upheaval for so many,” said Jacqueline Maguire, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “Defrauding the federal government programs created to mitigate that harm is despicable … [and] the FBI is committed to identifying, investigating, and bringing to justice anyone who thinks stealing taxpayer funds is the way to an easy payday.”

McLemore is charged with mail fraud and two counts of theft of public money, the statement said. If he’s convicted on all three, McLemore could be sentenced to 40 years in prison and fined $750,000.

This story was originally published November 10, 2021 at 1:52 PM with the headline "Man starts COVID relief scam days after he’s released from murder sentence, feds say."