Nevada AG charges fiber optic company owner over failed internet project

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford announced Friday that charges have been filed against the owner of a fiber optic company who allegedly took over $9 million in state funds slated to build high-speed internet in rural Nevada without completing the project.

Stephen Allen Kromer, owner of Uprise LLC, was charged with 31 counts of theft, most of which are for an amount greater than $100,000. The attorney general’s office alleged Kromer unlawfully diverted millions of dollars of taxpayer funds for a fiber optic project in Lovelock to his personal bank account.

“These charges are the result of hard and dedicated work from my office’s investigators and prosecutors, and I couldn’t be prouder of the work they have done,” Ford said in a Friday statement. “This matter is one that I take very seriously, and I have faith that justice will be served in this case.”

In 2023, the Nevada Department of Transportation and Uprise entered into an agreement to build telecommunication services in Lovelock for approximately $9.125 million. Lovelock is about 80 miles northeast of Reno.

Those funds would have been used to secure a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant of an additional $27 million as part of the ReConnect program to improve internet access in rural America. But that project saw little progress, the money disappeared and a contractor hired for the project had to close after not getting paid.

A few months ago, the USDA pulled the plug on the project after finding “significant contract violations.”

Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.