A former security officer at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site state will avoid spending time behind bars after pleading guilty to making false statements to obtain payroll protection loans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leif Gerlad Larsen was sentenced this week in federal court in Washington state to two years probation, according to filings with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.
Larson was granted leniency for various factors, including taking responsibility for his actions and being the sole caretaker for two ailing parents, both in their 80s, according to court papers.
Larsen appeared at a sentencing hearing Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian, according to online court documents. The sentencing was first reported by the local Tri-City Herald newspaper near Hanford.
“Larsen recognizes this matter is very serious and has taken full responsibility for his conduct,” according to the sentencing memo drafted by the defendant’s lawyer. The memo goes on to say Larson has lost the Hanford Patrol job he held for about eight years and lost both his security clearance and his license to operate his firearms dealer business.
“Because of his actions here, Mr. Larson has been stripped of all of that,” according to the sentencing memo.
In March, Larsen pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Larsen and two other defendants were initially indicted in March 2024 for cheating the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, a bill passed by Congress in 2020 to provide emergency financial help to struggling businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government claimed Larsen fraudulently obtained more than $150,000 of forgivable COVID loan funding. Federal prosecutors alleged Larsen and others manipulated falsified payroll records in order to obtain COVID loans.
The charging documents alleged that Larson falsely claimed that his business, Larsen Firearms, had 10 employees while Washington state employment records lacked any record of Larsen Firearms paying wages to workers.
The charges were outlined in an indictment filed with the court by the U.S. Attorney’s office for Eastern Washington.