Federal jury finds Michigan man guilty in $3.5 million fraudulent N95 mask scheme

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal jury in San Francisco has found a Michigan man guilty of failing to deliver almost $3.5 million worth of N95 masks to thousands of customers as the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Online court records show the jury found Rodney Lewis Stevenson II of Muskegon guilty of wire and mail fraud as well as money laundering Thursday.

Stevenson was indicted in January 2021. According to prosecutors, he advertised N95 masks on a website complete with fake names and photographs of company executives. He sold $3.5 million worth of masks to 25,000 customers between February and March 2020 but never delivered most of them and refused to issue refunds.

Stevenson’s attorney, listed in online court records as Robert Frederick Waggener, declined to comment.