Former Kansas legislator charged with COVID relief fraud
![<i></i><br/>](https://abc17news.b-cdn.net/abc17news.com/2021/06/kmiz-biz-and-tech.png)
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal grand jury has indicted former Kansas state Rep. Michael Capps on 19 counts alleging that he tried to defraud federal, state and county government organizations out of more than $450,000 in coronavirus relief funding. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Kansas said in a news release Thursday that the Wichita Republican filed forms inflating the number of employees he had at two businesses and a sports foundation, and then applied for loans to pay the non-existent employees. Capps is charged with multiple counts of making a false statement, bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. The Associated Press couldn’t immediately find a phone number for Capps to reach out to him for comment about the charges.