Date: March 10, 2025
Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov
Clarksburg, WV — Timothy Chad Henson, the owner of Clearfiber, Inc., an internet service provider in Monongalia County, was sentenced today to 18 months in federal prison for money laundering.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Henson, 35, of Morgantown, West Virginia, applied for United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) funding to provide high-speed internet services in Monongalia and Marion Counties. The USDA’s Community Connect Program offered grants to eligible applicants providing broadband services to rural areas. Henson’s Clearfiber, Inc. was awarded $1.96 million. Henson then submitted false invoices to the USDA to receive more than $340,000, transferring $322,900 into another bank account for his personal use.
Henson was ordered to pay $1,401,849.06 in restitution.
Henson will serve three years of supervised release following his prison sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Eleanor Hurney prosecuted the case on behalf of the government.
This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).
Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Kleeh presided.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.