Date: May 29, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Clarksburg, WV — Timothy Chad Henson, the owner of Clearfiber, Inc., an internet service provider in Monongalia County, has admitted to defrauding the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Henson of Morgantown, West Virginia, pled guilty today to money laundering. According to court documents and statements made in court, the USDA’s Community Connect Program offered grants to eligible applicants providing broadband services to rural areas. As owner of Clearfiber, Henson applied and was awarded $1.96 million in USDA funding to offer high-speed internet services in Monongalia and Marion Counties. 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 faces up to 10 years in federal prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Wagner is prosecuting the case on behalf of the government. This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS CI) and the USDA Office of the Inspector General. U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael John Aloi presided. 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. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
