MESA, Ariz. — The manager of a Mesa nonprofit -- who has a history of laundering government funds -- is in trouble again with federal authorities after he allegedly filed fraudulent tax returns.
Eric Jenkins, the overseer of a local food bank and services for individuals experiencing homelessness, was arrested last month and has been indicted in federal court on three counts of making false claims to the U.S. government.
According to an indictment filed on July 20, the 53-year-old earned up to $110,000 in tax refunds between 2017 and 2019 that he allegedly obtained under false pretenses.
In the W-2 forms Jenkins submitted to the Internal Revenue Service, he would annually report an income of about $155,000 and a “Schedule C” loss of up to $125,000. The Schedule C forms are used to report profits or losses earned by individuals who are self-employed.
In an interview with 12 News, Jenkins denied any wrongdoing and blamed others he had trusted to correctly fill out his tax forms.
"It was like a kid filed them," he noted. "They were so inaccurate."
The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to elaborate on how Jenkins allegedly lied to the IRS or what was fraudulent about his tax returns.
But the new charges come nearly a decade after Jenkins found himself in federal court for a much bigger scam.
In 2012, Jenkins was the subject of another indictment that accused him of obtaining nearly $500,000 from the federal government for contracting work that was never done.
Jenkins was the owner of PrimeX Technology in Mesa and obtained some lucrative contracts with the Federal Communications Commission to perform in-home converter box installations across Arizona.
PrimeX was contracted to perform 1,000 installations for $78,000 and another 10,000 installations for $650,000. Jenkins’ company submitted seven invoices to the FCC, claiming to have done more than 8,000 installations for up to $536,000.
According to the Office of Inspector General, PrimeX allegedly didn’t do any of the installations it claimed to have done on the invoices.
The OIG claimed PrimeX would pick out names from the phone book, list out those names randomly to avoid suspicion, and forged signatures to make it appear like PrimeX had been servicing customers.
The FCC had already processed most of the company’s invoices, resulting in PrimeX obtaining $493,000, by the time the government detected the fraud and discontinued payment.
Jenkins disputed the government's account of the contracting issue. He claimed the FCC starting paying for installations without verifying first they had actually been completed.
Furthermore, Jenkins said he had trusted a subcontractor to handle the installations while he was away in another state.
The only mistake Jenkins said he made was cashing a large check that should have been returned to the government. But he figured the government had signed off on check, so Jenkins thought it was safe to deposit.
Because of that error, Jenkins decided to plead guilty to one count of transactional money laundering and was sentenced to several years of probation. The court additionally ordered him to pay back all the money PrimeX earned from the government.
A couple of years before the PrimeX scandal, records show Jenkins became a director of Mesa’s Streets of Joy and helped to oversee the nonprofit's community services.
According to the organization's website, Streets of Joy offers transitional housing and free food to vulnerable populations throughout the East Valley.
"My number one priority has been helping the people who got needs," Jenkins said. "That's all I do."
Jenkins was expecting to finally put the PrimeX scandal behind him earlier this year since his probation term was expected to expire in July.
But on the day Jenkins went in to complete his probationary requirements, he said federal agents were waiting to take him into custody for the new IRS charges.
Now he's facing another battle in federal court and the challenge of finding enough funds to pay for an attorney.
"Who helps me when I'm helping everybody else," Jenkins asked.
Jenkins said he's invested so much of himself in running the nonprofit and court records show he's struggled with money problems over the years.
Jenkins said he's not a scammer and will work to prove in court that he didn't try to cheat the government.
"I'm not that guy," Jenkins said. "I'm not trying to make a lot of money, I'm trying to help people."
