A broadband project once promoted as a transformational investment in Pershing County has now produced two criminal cases, a civil lawsuit, millions of dollars in disputed public funding and little of the high-speed internet infrastructure Lovelock residents were promised.
Stephen A. Kromer, the former owner of Reno-based Uprise LLC, was scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court in Las Vegas on Wednesday, July 8, on a 16-count indictment alleging that he embezzled approximately $7.8 million connected to the Lovelock broadband project.
The hearing was set for after the Lovelock Review-Miner’s press deadline. Any developments from the proceeding will be reported online and in the next edition.
A federal grand jury indicted Kromer on June 10. He is charged with one count of theft of government property, four counts of federal program theft, five counts of money laundering, five counts involving monetary transactions in criminally derived property and one count of using a false document.
Federal prosecutors allege Kromer transferred project funds into his personal bank account and then converted more than $6.2 million into cryptocurrency.
The charges are allegations. Kromer is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The federal prosecution is separate from a state case in which Kromer has pleaded not guilty to 31 felony theft charges filed by the Nevada Attorney General’s Office. His state trial is scheduled to begin in June 2027 in Washoe County.
Together, the cases mark the latest chapter in the collapse of a project that was supposed to bring high-speed internet service to thousands of rural residents, businesses, farms and public facilities in and around Lovelock.
Uprise applied in 2022 for funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s ReConnect Program, which was created to finance broadband construction in rural communities that lack adequate internet service.
According to the federal indictment, Uprise proposed a $36 million project serving people living and working in rural areas near Lovelock.
The USDA awarded the company a $27 million ReConnect grant in June 2023. As a condition of the award, Uprise was required to provide approximately $9 million toward the project.
The Nevada Department of Transportation entered into an agreement with Uprise to help provide that money. The state advanced approximately $9.1 million for telecommunications infrastructure associated with the Lovelock project.
The money was placed in a pledged deposit account that restricted withdrawals to USDA-approved project expenses.
Federal prosecutors now allege Kromer withdrew approximately $7.8 million from that account through 32 wire transfers made between May and November 2024.
According to the indictment, the money was deposited into Kromer’s personal bank account.
Prosecutors also allege that false entries were placed in Uprise’s accounting records to make the withdrawals appear to be legitimate Lovelock project expenses. Kromer is accused of submitting the false information to the USDA.
The indictment further alleges that Kromer moved the proceeds from his personal bank account into accounts at several cryptocurrency exchanges, where more than $6.2 million was converted from U.S. dollars into cryptocurrency.
If convicted, Kromer could face decades in federal prison. The Department of Justice said the maximum statutory penalties associated with all 16 charges total more than 150 years. Actual sentences in federal cases are determined by a judge using federal sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
The Nevada Attorney General’s Office filed its case against Kromer in May 2025.
The state charged him with one count of theft involving at least $25,000 but less than $100,000 and 30 counts of theft involving more than $100,000. All 31 charges are category B felonies.
Attorney General Aaron Ford’s office alleged that Kromer unlawfully diverted millions of dollars intended for the Lovelock fiber-optic project into his personal account.
Kromer pleaded not guilty to the state charges in September 2025. He waived his right to a speedy trial, and the case was scheduled for a 20-day trial beginning in June 2027.
The federal indictment does not replace the state prosecution. The two cases were brought by separate sovereign governments under different laws, and both may proceed.
The federal investigation was conducted by the FBI and the USDA Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. attorneys Steven Myhre and Skyler Pearson are prosecuting the federal case.
While the money was moving through project accounts, the broadband construction effort was unraveling.
The project was intended to extend fiber-optic service to rural homes, farms, businesses, schools and other community facilities across the Lovelock area.
Instead, work stalled amid disputes over payment and project management.
Comm NV, a subcontractor hired to perform work on the project, filed a lawsuit against Uprise and NDOT in late 2024 alleging nonpayment and other claims. Construction crews left the project, and reels of unused fiber-optic cable remained stored in Lovelock.
The USDA later conducted an audit of the project from March 3 through March 14, 2025, and subsequently terminated its funding commitment to Uprise, withdrawing the $27 million ReConnect grant.
That termination effectively ended the Uprise project as originally approved. It did not, however, end Lovelock’s need for reliable broadband service.
For residents of Pershing County, the criminal cases raise questions that go beyond whether one person committed a crime. The issue for the community is the network was never completed.
The federal indictment focuses on approximately $7.8 million prosecutors say Kromer diverted.
The state case focuses on the alleged theft of money provided through Nevada’s agreement with Uprise.
Neither prosecution, by itself, will build the broadband network Pershing County was promised.
County officials have previously explored whether another provider could take over the service area or revive portions of the project. However, with the USDA grant terminated and the original project tied up in criminal and civil litigation, any replacement effort would likely require a new company, new financing and new agreements with state and federal agencies.
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