A New Hampshire man was sentenced to 15 months in prison for using $1 million in COVID relief funds to buy a golf course.

Michael Kirouac, 38, of Pembroke, New Hampshire, also got one year of supervised release for his scheme to purchase Angus Lea Golf Course in Hillsborough, New Hampshire.

“The defendant stole over a million dollars from taxpayers amidst one of the worst health and economic crises in a century,” said U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan.

“The defendant misappropriated critical funds intended for legitimate businesses harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Special Agent in Charge Christopher F. Algieri with the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General’s Northeast Field Office.

Plans to convert a warehouse in Merrimack, New Hampshire, into an immigrant processing center are drawing opposition from local officials and some residents, while raising questions about what state leaders knew and when.

The 300,000-square-foot building located at 50 Robert Milligan Parkway could be repurposed by the Department of Homeland Security as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility with up to 600 beds.

Town Manager Paul Macali said local officials were not informed early in the process.

“We have been left out of the conversation, and we’re just trying to get information. It’s been very sparse,” he said.

Macali has also raised financial concerns if the federal government purchases the property.

“If the federal government does buy the building, we’re going to lose $529,000 worth of tax revenue, which is a big chunk of money for the school department and the town,” he said.

Public awareness of the proposal followed open records requests by the New Hampshire ACLU and questioning of Trump administration officials by U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat.

Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan questioned acting ICE Director Todd Lyons about a planned immigrant processing center, and Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte disputed his public comments.

Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte previously said she had “zero details” about the plans. Her office this week said she has been aware of the intentions since December and had communicated with federal officials.

In a statement, her office said, “Our office has been in communication for weeks with officials at the White House and DHS about this facility to urge that they coordinate with the town of Merrimack and take local input into account before even considering siting a facility like this in New Hampshire.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday the administration is working with governors nationwide, “including in New Hampshire, to open more detention facilities.”

Political analyst Scott Spradling said the governor’s position could be decisive.

“The governor is probably the only voice in New Hampshire that can stop this thing from moving into reality in the town Merrimack, but the question is, will she do that?” he said.

Spradling also questioned whether the governor is aligning her stance with local opposition.

“She has certainly said local voices, local control are most important but we’ve already heard the local voices and the local control folks saying ‘We don’t want this here,’” said Spradling.

Merrimack resident Kaitlin Bernier said she voted for Ayotte and expected a better response.

“We already said how we feel about it, and we don’t want it, and there’s been no response, and that’s very disappointing,” she said.

Bernier and other activists plan to rally at Merrimack Town Hall, demanding input before ICE moves forward.

“We have no new detention centers to announce at this time,” DHS’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement. “Secretary [Kristi] Noem has stated that she is willing to work with officials on both sides of the aisle to expand detention space to help ICE law enforcement carry out the largest deportation effort in American history.”

Macali said he spoke with Trammell Crow, which owns the property, and was told the building has not been sold to the federal government. The company did not return requests for comment.

CONCORD, N.H. – New Hampshire inventor and businessman Dean Kamen resigned from the board of BETA Technologies this week, after documents were released in late January showing his longstanding ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

While Kamen has previously downplayed his relationship to Epstein, the latest disclosure from the US Department of Justice showed that he had visited the disgraced financier’s Caribbean island in 2013, and that the two had remained in contact for years after Epstein was first convicted of sex crimes involving a minor in 2008.

Kamen voluntarily stepped down from BETA’s board of directors on Wednesday “to avoid potential distractions as the Company remains focused on executing its strategic priorities,” according to a Thursday company filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Kamen, perhaps best known for inventing the Segway in 2001, has not been accused of any wrongdoing related to his relationship with Epstein.

BETA, an electric aircraft company headquartered in South Burlington, Vt., first announced that Kamen had been placed on a voluntary, indefinite leave of absence on Feb. 4. The board of directors said it had launched an independent investigation into the matter, according to a company statement.

A spokesperson for the company declined to answer questions about the status of that investigation on Friday, and said the company would not comment on the matter beyond its filing.

Some of the other organizations Kamen is affiliated with have previously announced they would review his ties to Epstein.

That includes the nonprofit Kamen founded, Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI) in Manchester, N.H., whose board of directors said Kamen had recused himself from the board pending an independent review in early February.

The youth robotics educational nonprofit he founded, FIRST, also said Kamen would take a leave of absence while an outside law firm conducts an independent review.

A spokesperson for the XPRIZE Foundation, which partners with FIRST, said Kamen is no longer part of an advisory group as of Feb. 5, in light of his leave of absence.

And Sequel Med Tech in Manchester, N.H., a company co-founded by Kamen, announced an independent review in early February.

A spokesperson for Kamen’s company DEKA Research & Development Corp. has not responded to questions about whether it will take similar action.

The latest tranche of US DOJ documents was not the first time Kamen had been linked to Epstein.

Two undated photos were released in December 2025 showing Kamen socializing with Epstein in a tropical location, and sharing a Segway with Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell at a convention center. Kamen said he had “only limited interactions” with Epstein and “no specific memory” of interacting with Maxwell.

The public has known for years about the flight Kamen took with Epstein in 2003, and about his subsequent ties to Nadia Marcinko, a close Epstein associate who was granted immunity in a plea deal Epstein struck in 2008 with federal prosecutors.

The latest release of documents includes emails the two men exchanged through 2015, and it shows how they traded professional favors and planned travel together.

Kamen has said he has no knowledge of Epstein’s “horrific” crimes and that he regrets the “limited interactions” he had with him.

Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.