COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Vice President JD Vance was in Kansas City on Monday to announce an operation that is allegedly targeting fraud that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vance spoke at the Kansas City FBI headquarters as officials announced "Operation No Doze,” which is starting in Missouri and Kansas.

A press release from the Department of Justice says the Western District Court of Missouri filed “has filed charges, secured pleas and sentences, and obtained civil judgments against 15 defendants, involving more than $60 million in actual or intended losses.”

That release says from June 12-Sept. 1, prosecutors in the fraud division were able to get felony charges against nearly 80 defendants “defendants responsible for approximately $100 million dollars in intended loss to the United States.”

“We are proud to stand with our federal and state partners in rooting out criminal activity of all kinds, especially defrauding the public,” Gov. Mike Kehoe was quoted in the release. “Fraud is not a victimless crime. Every dollar stolen is a dollar taken from hardworking taxpayers or from someone who depends on the programs those dollars are meant to support. In Missouri, we will continue working at every level to hold fraudsters accountable and protect those they seek to exploit.”

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