A United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer was arrested for fraudulently obtaining nearly $150,000 in COVID-19 pandemic business-relief loan funds for two of his “sham businesses,” including a trucking company.

CBP officer Amer Aldarawsheh, 45, of Moreno Valley, was arrested on April 23 on five counts of wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

Aldarawsheh has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Officials say that Aldarawsheh owned and purportedly operated two businesses: Nahar Enterprises Inc., a San Bernardino-based business he described as a trucking and freight company, and Ameral, which he described as an automotive repair company.

Between July 2020 and December 2021, Aldarawsheh allegedly lied to the Small Business Administration (SBA) to fraudulently obtain loans on behalf of the trucking and auto repair companies, “neither of which had substantial business or employees,” under the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL).

“Aldarawsheh knowingly misappropriated and misused the EIDL funds he received from the SBA for his own personal benefit, including in December 2020, causing the transfer of $149,900 in SBA COVID-19 EIDL loan funds to be wired from the SBA to a bank account under his control,” officials said.

If convicted, Aldarawsheh would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each count.

The case was investigated by the United States Custom and Border Protection Office of Professional Responsibility, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.