PHILADELPHIA, PA — A Bath, Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty Thursday to 10 federal fraud charges tied to pandemic unemployment benefits and vehicle purchases at local car dealerships, U.S. Attorney David Metcalf announced.
Justin Heimbach, 34, entered a guilty plea on February 26 before U.S. District Judge John M. Younge to six counts of mail fraud and four counts of wire fraud.
Federal prosecutors said Heimbach was charged by indictment in August 2024 for schemes that defrauded the federal government and multiple Lehigh Valley car dealerships.
According to court filings, Heimbach operated a construction company known as TeamKJ Construction and caused fraudulent applications to be submitted under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program created by the CARES Act in 2020.
The program provided unemployment benefits to individuals not eligible for regular unemployment compensation.
Prosecutors said the applications falsely claimed that certain individuals had lost their jobs with TeamKJ Construction as a result of COVID-19, including inaccurate employment separation dates.
Authorities also alleged that Heimbach purchased vehicles from multiple Lehigh Valley dealerships using the names of other construction companies registered to or associated with him and issued checks drawn on bank accounts that lacked sufficient funds.
Heimbach is scheduled to be sentenced on June 11, 2026.
The case was investigated by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General and the FBI Philadelphia’s Allentown Resident Agency. Assistant U.S. Attorney S. Chandler Harris is prosecuting the case.
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