Former Beverly Pizzeria Owner Misused PPP Funds: Feds

BEVERLY, MA —The former owner of Rasta Pasta Pizzeria of Beverly, accused of using Paycheck Protection Program funds to buy an alpaca farm in Vermont, cars and weekly airtime for his cryptocurrency radio show, was indicted on federal wire fraud and money laundering charges.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said Dana McIntyre, a former resident of Beverly and Essex, was indicted on four counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering in federal court on Tuesday. He is accused of securing more than $660,000 in PPP loans for the pizzeria, as well as other loans for fictitious businesses, and using them for personal items.

He was arrested earlier this month and charged by criminal complaint.

The U.S. Attorney's Office accused McIntyre of using his adult children's names to apply for federal Economic Injury Disaster Loans for businesses that did not exist. He is also accused of misrepresenting on the loan application that he was not working because of the coronavirus pandemic when, in fact, he was still drawing payments from the Rasta Pasta Pizzeria.

Prosecutors said that when he sold the business in August 2000 he had already drawn upon $17,000 in loans he was not entitled to receive.

At the same time, he is also accused of applying for PPP loans for the pizzeria in which he inflated information about the shop's employees and expenses, and falsified a tax form to qualify for a larger loan amount. The U.S. District Attorney's office said McIntyre then sold the pizza shop upon receiving the funds and used the money to buy the alpaca farm in Grafton, Vermont.

The PPP program, through the federal CARES Act, was intended to allow small businesses to retain employees and pay certain business-related expenses during the pandemic through forgivable loans.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Information for this article was supplied by the U.S. Attorney's Office of Massachusetts. Patch follows a name removal policy for those listed in its published police reports.

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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