Florida Man Sentenced to 6.5 Years in Prison for $5 Million Fraud Scheme Involving Western Pennsylvania Rental Properties

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. - A former resident of Hudson, Florida, was sentenced in federal court to 78 months of imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, on his conviction of wire fraud conspiracy, Acting United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today.

United States District Judge Stephanie L. Haines imposed the sentence on Paul Andrew Gulbronson, 59, on September 9, 2025.

According to information presented to the Court, Gulbronson and his co-defendant/wife, Kelly Bonilla-who remains a fugitive residing in Panama-operated Citrona Homes from Florida and Johnstown, Pennsylvania, between 2017 and June 2019. The defendants used Citrona as a housing scheme in which they induced investors through telemarketing calls and online solicitations to purchase Citrona-owned homes or properties in Johnstown by promising to rent "fully renovated" properties to Section 8 tenants. Citrona bought distressed properties and sold them to mostly out-of-state investors at greatly inflated prices, with the promise that they were renovated, tenant-occupied, and managed by Citrona. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) settlement records revealed that, between June 2017 and June 2019, Citrona purchased over 100 homes for approximately $2 million and resold them for approximately $6 million. Very few of the properties were habitable, and some were vacant lots. Financial and bank records identified over $5.3 million that Citrona received from investors, with the investors having lost approximately $5 million of that amount.

"Over the course of several years, Paul Gulbronson misled investors regarding the condition and status of their Citrona Homes properties in order to swindle millions of dollars from those victims, and then-upon learning that he was under investigation for these crimes-fled the United States, leaving dozens of dilapidated properties in his wake," said Acting United States Attorney Rivetti. "As a result of the outstanding work of our law enforcement partners, Gulbronson has been brought to justice and held accountable for his egregious criminal activity."

"Gulbronson used a series of lies and misrepresentations to defraud investors into believing they had purchased fully renovated rental properties that would provide them with passive income," said Lesley Allison, Inspector in Charge of the Pittsburgh Division of the United States Postal Inspection Service. "Instead of fulfilling his promises, he used their money to further the fraud scheme and pay for personal expenses, including restaurants, airline tickets, home furnishings, and lease payments for his residences in Florida. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service constantly strives to protect our customers from losing their hard-earned money through mail fraud schemes and will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to bring those responsible to justice."

"Paul Gulbronson willfully engaged in a $5 million fraud scheme to induce individuals to make investments on properties under false pretenses, including false statements that payments would be made with federal taxpayer dollars," said Special Agent in Charge Shawn Rice with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General (OIG). "HUD OIG will continue to work with the U.S. Attorney's Office and its law enforcement and oversight partners to vigorously pursue those who seek to profit by abusing HUD-funded programs."

Gulbronson, who did not have an official title within Citrona but operated and controlled Citrona, was directly involved in real estate sales to investors, and oversaw the renovations, or lack of renovations, of the properties associated with Citrona. Gulbronson and Bonilla operated Citrona's sales office in the Holiday, Florida, area from at least June 2017 through May 2019, which included a call center from which employees placed sales calls to potential investors. Between October 2017 and May 2019, Citrona also had a management office, located at 329 Market Street in Johnstown, which operated the property management side of the business including handling complaints from tenants and investors, collecting and depositing rent payments, coordinating repairs and maintenance, and writing checks to pay employees.

Gulbronson and Bonilla used Citrona as a mechanism for enriching themselves by defrauding investors into purchasing unrenovated properties at prices far above fair market value through a series of false pretenses, representations, and promises. Investigators confirmed, for example, that the photos investors were able to view on the company's website of "available" properties were actually staged and did not accurately depict the investment properties. Gulbronson falsely represented to some of the investors that the properties would be fully renovated at the time of the sale, or that the properties would be fully renovated within a specified period following the sale, when they were not, while some properties were condemned or vacant land when they were sold to unknowing investors.

Assistant United States Attorneys Maureen Sheehan-Balchon and Brendan T. Conway prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

Acting United States Attorney Rivetti commended the United States Postal Inspection Service and Department of Housing and Urban Development-Office of Inspector General for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Gulbronson.