The man charged in connection with a failed fiber optic project in Lovelock pleaded not guilty to charges against him, on Thursday.Â
Uprise Fiber owner Stephen Kromer faces 31 felony charges of theft in connection with the project.Â
In 2023, the Nevada Department of Transportation entered into an agreement with Uprise to build telecommunication infrastructure around Lovelock for approximately $9.125 million.
Kromer is accused of moving millions of dollars intended for the project into his personal account.Â
His trial is scheduled to start in June 2027.
MAY 19, 2025:
The man facing 31 charges in connection with a failed fiber optic project in Lovelock is now on house arrest.Â
Court records show that the owner of Uprise Fiber, Stephen Kromer was released from jail on Friday, May 16th on $7 million bondable bail. He also must also surrender his passport.Â
MAY 16, 2025:
The owner of Uprise Fiber, Stephen Kromer, is facing 31 felony charges of theft related to a failed fiber optics project that was supposed to bring high speed internet to Lovelock.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford held a press conference Friday to discuss the charges and parts of the investigation.
"These crimes include a total loss of over seven million," he said.
Since then, Kromer has been booked into the Washoe County Jail. His bail is set at $8 million.
In 2022, we reported on Uprise Fiber looking to bring a much-needed upgrade to Lovelock's internet service.
Two years ago, the Nevada Department of Transportation entered into an agreement with Uprise to build its intelligent transportation systems.
NDOT put up $9.125 million up front to the Reno-based company, money that seemingly went missing.
"Our investigation has uncovered that Stephen Allen Kromer, the owner of the company leading the project, unlawfully diverted millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to his personal bank accounts," AG Ford said.
In regards to if anyone else may be charged in the case, Ford says he wouldn't comment.
This is not the first time someone's accused Uprise of stealing money. In the last two years there's been a couple of civil lawsuits filed.
There was one by an independent contractor who claimed she was not paid, as shown in the document below:
There was another from CommNV, shown in this document:
With the civil suits filed, Ford says the civil and criminal sides of his office work in two different worlds.
"I can say that in December of last year we were having inquiries and conversations among ourselves," the Attorney General said. "We got the official request for a criminal investigation to open from NDOT on January 28, 2025 - and less than five months later, we're filing charges."
It's not just the state investigating this situation, but the federal government as well.
"Given the overwhelming public interest into these allegations, the United States Attorney's office is announcing that we will conduct a thorough investigation," said Sigal Chattah, Interim United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.
Initially, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) granted $27 million for the project through its ReConnect Loan and Grant Program.
A spokesperson with the USDA told us that funding has been pulled.
"USDA is terminating funding commitments to Uprise Fiber after an investigation into the project," they said in a statement sent to 2 News Nevada. "This determination does not have any relation to national initiatives on cost efficiency... USDA sent field accountants out for a field audit from March 3-14, 2025. During the review, the agency identified significant contract violations including failure to meet the matching funds requirement, a real property purchase duplicated, and construction equipment purchased that was significantly lower than the cost submitted to RUS for matching consideration."
This now leaves Lovelock and Pershing County without high speed internet.
The USDA says they are looking into other avenues to make this happen.
AG Ford says the trial will go through the Reno Justice Court.
