- Mobile Edition - Mobile EditionA Cortez man was sentenced to three years in federal prison and ordered to pay nearly $1 million for lying on a loan application to the Bank of Durango in 2003.
Richard C. Shaw, 56, was sentenced Friday to serve 37 months in a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility and pay $975,000 to the federal government's Small Business Administration and the Bank of Durango for making a false statement to a federally insured bank.
After his release from prison, he will serve five years of supervised release.
The maximum prison term for making a false statement to a bank is 30 years.
On Aug. 15, 2003, Shaw completed paperwork at Bank of Durango for a $1.1 million loan through the SBA, according to the plea deal Shaw signed with prosecutors. Shaw was applying for a Small Business Loan for his construction company, Sonrise Construction of the Four Corners LLC.
In the loan packet's personal history form, Shaw checked “no" to the question: “Have you ever been charged with and/or arrested for any criminal offense other than a minor motor vehicle violation?"
In 1987, however, Shaw was convicted of racketeering and embezzlement in New Mexico.
Shaw was indicted for making false statements by a federal grand jury March 24, 2009, in Denver. He pleaded guilty Nov. 6, 2009, before Judge John L. Kane.
SBA Inspector General Peg Gustafson called Shaw's sentence a “landmark" in a news release issued Tuesday.
“Detecting and preventing fraud in SBA loan programs is especially important in these difficult economic times," Gustafson wrote. “This noteworthy sentence should serve as a notice to all SBA loan participants that persons committing loan fraud will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Bank of Durango merged with First National Bank of Durango in April 2007. The bank's former building on Sawyer Drive in Bodo Park now houses a First National branch. Shaw's restitution will be paid to First National, as Bank of Durango's successor.
First National President Steve Short declined to comment for this story, citing a bank policy against discussing current or former customers.
Back in 2003, Shaw signed his name on the personal history form under the clause, “Caution: Knowingly making a false statement on this form is a violation of federal law and could result in criminal prosecution."
gandrews@durangoherald.com