Former Wenatchee Man Sentenced for Misusing COVID Funds, Buying RV

A man with local roots is going to prison for unlawfully obtaining funds appropriated under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Washington, Jason Carnell O’Daffer, formerly of Wenatchee, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised probation. The presiding judge in this case is Thomas O. Rice.

O'Daffer pleaded guilty in February to unlawfully obtaining $117,000 in Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) funds. The EIDL program was enacted as part of 2020's multi-trillion-dollar stimulus package. The program provided "fixed rate, low interest, long-term capital" to small businesses, many of them underbanked and hugely vulnerable to the ravages of COVID-19.

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Unbeknownst to the Small Business Administration, O'Daffer was in no meaningful sense a self-employed home appraiser, as he claimed on his EIDL application. He was unlicensed and his business, Chelan Douglas Appraisal Services, was inactive.

Outdoor recreation is not one of the SBA's approved expenses, but that is how O'Daffer spent a third ($39,000) of his funds. He embarked on a cross-country road trip in his newly purchased recreational vehicle.

In 2022, a federal grand jury indicted O'Daffer on two counts of wire fraud and one count of false, fictitious, or fraudulent claims. He was arraigned in San Francisco but soon disappeared from authorities' view, only to be rearrested early last year.

According to his bare-bones LinkedIn page, O'Daffer holds a business degree from the University of Washington. He was employed for an indeterminate length of time by Laura Mounter Real Estate & Co., a Wenatchee firm.