Owners of Saratoga Springs gun shop accused of defrauding customers of over $600,000
Apr 16, 2024, 1:13 PM | Updated: Apr 17, 2024, 11:40 am
A gold statue holds a justice scale. (Canva)
(Canva)
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect that the DOJ accused Urban Armz of falsely claiming the FBI and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency were clients. A previous version said the DOJ’s indictment identified the agencies as clients.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah — A Utah couple is facing fraud charges for over $600,000 of equipment that their shop, Urban Armz, LLC, never delivered. The list included body armor, rounds of ammunition, and other military equipment.
A lot of the gear was supposed to go to the front lines of the Ukraine-Russia war.
The Department of Justice accused John Earl Donaldson and Carlie Elizabeth Winters of Saratoga Springs of creating “false pretenses” to get money from customers and financial firms. The indictment said that Urban Armz falsely claimed that its clients included the FBI and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.
Additionally, the indictment said the company promised they could obtain and resell military equipment in bulk.
Allegations against Urban Armz, LLC
In one case, the Department of Justice claimed a customer wired $90,000 to Urban Armz. The wire transfer was for 300,000 rounds of ammunition. The indictment said they never arrived.
In a press release, the DOJ alleges that “Donaldson and Winters spent the customer’s funds on transfers to unrelated parties, shopping, credit card payments, and other withdrawals.”
Donaldson and Winters allegedly stole much of the money from groups connected to Ukraine. Two separate U.S. customers spent more than $500,000 on body armor, night vision goggles, and other optics equipment meant for Ukrainian soldiers and first responders.
Allegedly, they were never delivered at all.
The indictment said Donaldson promised a refund but it never arrived.
Donaldson also allegedly inflated the size of Urban Armz to obtain $200,170 in financing.
According to the indictment, the couple faces charges of conspiring to commit money laundering and wire fraud.
The maximum penalty for most wire fraud cases is 20 years in federal prison and $250,000 in fines, but because some of the affected parties, in this case, are financial institutions, that punishment could go up to 30 years in prison and $1 million in fines, according to health care fraud defense law firm Oberheiden P.C.
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