Former Wenatchee Man Pleads Guilty to COVID-19 Fraud

A 40-year-old former Wenatchee man will be sentenced in federal court for illegally obtaining COVID relief funding.

Jason Carnell O’Daffer has pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining $117,400 in Economic Injury Disaster Loan funding for what he claimed was his home appraisal business, Chelan Douglas Appraisal Services.

Prosecutors say O’Daffer was not licensed as an appraiser at the time, and his business was no longer engaging in home appraisals.

He spent the loan proceeds on non-business expenses including more than $39,000 on a personal RV.

O’Daffer disappeared after initially being arraigned in the Northern District of California in San Francisco.

He was indicted while still at large by a grand jury in the Eastern District of Washington with two counts of wire fraud and one count of false, fictitious, or fraudulent claims.

The indictment was filed and sealed on Oct. 18, 2022, in order to give law enforcement enough time to locate O’Daffer.

He was later arrested and pleaded guilty last Wednesday to wire fraud.

United States District Judge Thomas O. Rice accepted O’Daffer’s guilty plea, and set sentencing for May 8, 2024, at 10:30 a.m., in Spokane.