Pennsylvania Attorney General Sues Over Alleged Fake Spotted Lanternfly Permit Mailings

Pennsylvania Attorney General Sues Over Alleged Fake Spotted Lanternfly Permit Mailings

Pennsylvania's Office of Attorney General says it has sued an Idaho man and his company over mailings that allegedly imitated state agriculture notices and sold businesses permits and training the Commonwealth gives away free. The allegations are untested, and the defendants have not been found liable.

Information last verified on October 4, 2026. Every statement below about the lawsuit comes from the Office of Attorney General's own announcement of its filing. Those are allegations in a civil complaint, not findings by any court.

Jurisdiction scope: This is a Pennsylvania state civil enforcement action filed in the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas. It binds no one outside that case. The spotted lanternfly quarantine and permit program discussed here is Pennsylvania's own program, although several neighboring states run comparable ones.

What Happened

On September 30, 2026, Attorney General Dave Sunday's office announced that its Bureau of Consumer Protection had filed suit against Kevin Wardell and Diverse Solutions, LLC. The announcement describes the case as being about "deceiving Pennsylvanians and businesses into purchasing fraudulent spotted lanternfly permits and associated training."

The Commonwealth's account of its own complaint runs like this. The defendants allegedly solicited and sold permits and training under the name "Spotted Lanternfly Commission." The announcement states that Wardell and his business "solicited Pennsylvanians ... by mailing letters that included deceptive logos and terminology to appear as if they were from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture." The release adds that the solicitations were in some cases successful. The announcement further states that those letters "threatened civil and criminal penalties if compliance was not immediately obtained, while offering for sale permits and training (created by Wardell)."

The Attorney General's own words on the free alternative are the part worth quoting. Attorney General Sunday said in the announcement:

"Pennsylvania is working hard to stop the spread of invasive species such as spotted lanternflies, but they aren't the only pests that are harming Pennsylvanians. Scammers peddling fraudulent trainings and fake permits do not help anyone keep their crops safe from this destructive species."

He added: "Legitimate training and permits are available for free through the Department of Agriculture and Penn State Extension."

The office says the suit asks the court to prohibit the defendants from conducting business in Pennsylvania, seeks restitution for everyone who bought the permits or training, and pursues civil penalties. The announcement names Senior Deputy Attorney General Paul D. Edger as the filing attorney.

Two things that announcement does not do. It does not name the statute the complaint pleads, and it does not report any response from the defendants. We found no answer, denial or statement from Wardell or Diverse Solutions as of October 4, 2026, and a Pennsylvania county civil docket is not something we were able to verify directly for this piece. Treat every allegation above as exactly that.

What the Law Actually Says

Because the release does not identify the pleaded statute, we are not going to supply one. What can be stated from primary text is what Pennsylvania's main consumer protection statute gives the Attorney General, because the remedies the office says it is seeking line up with that statute's remedies.

Under the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, the act of December 17, 1968, P.L. 1224, No. 387 (73 P.S. section 201-1 et seq.), section 4 says that whenever the Attorney General "or a District Attorney has reason to believe that any person is using or is about to use any method, act or practice declared by section 3 of this act to be unlawful, and that proceedings would be in the public interest," the office "may bring an action in the name of the Commonwealth against such person to restrain by temporary or permanent injunction the use of such method, act or practice."

Section 4.1 adds restitution, and it is conditional. Where a court issues a permanent injunction under section 4, the court "may in its discretion direct that the defendant or defendants restore to any person in interest any moneys or property, real or personal, which may have been acquired by means of any violation of this act." Restitution is discretionary and follows the injunction, not the filing.

Section 8(b) carries the civil penalties. If a court finds a person or company "is wilfully using or has wilfully used" an unlawful practice, the Commonwealth may recover "a civil penalty of not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) per violation." Where the victim "is sixty years of age or older, the civil penalty shall not exceed three thousand dollars ($3,000) per violation." Both figures are ceilings, both require a finding of wilfulness, and the age threshold in the text is 60.

The categories of unlawful conduct that an impersonation case would normally live in are in section 2(4), which section 3 declares unlawful. Clause (iii) reaches "causing likelihood of confusion or of misunderstanding as to affiliation, connection or association with, or certification by, another." Clause (v) reaches representing "that a person has a sponsorship, approval, status, affiliation or connection that he does not have." Whether the complaint pleads those clauses, we cannot confirm.

The free-program fact. This is the detail a Pennsylvania business owner actually needs. Businesses operating inside the spotted lanternfly quarantine that move products, vehicles or other conveyances within or out of the quarantine must hold a permit or hire companies that have one, per the Department of Agriculture's business page. The route to that permit is the Penn State Extension course "Spotted Lanternfly Permit Training for Businesses: Pennsylvania," a self paced online course the Extension built with the Department of Agriculture. Penn State Extension lists the course price as $0.00. As of October 4, 2026 that listing also shows "Registration is closed at this time," so the course is free but not currently open for enrollment. That is a scheduling state on the Extension site, not a fee. A business that needs a permit now should ask the Department of Agriculture directly at slfpermit@pa.gov rather than buy anything from a mailed solicitation. Once a designated employee passes it, the Extension page says, "his or her company will receive spotted lanternfly permits for company vehicles." The Department of Agriculture's own business page tells managers and supervisors to "complete the free permit course," and the Extension's listing for that course prices it at $0.00. The Attorney General's statement that there is no cost to attend the training or obtain the permit matches both.

As federal background only, the Federal Trade Commission's Rule on Impersonation of Government and Businesses prohibits government impersonation at 16 C.F.R. 461.2, which makes it an unfair or deceptive act to "materially and falsely pose as, directly or by implication, a government entity or officer thereof" or to "materially misrepresent, directly or by implication, affiliation with, including endorsement or sponsorship by, a government entity or officer thereof." The companion provision at 16 C.F.R. 461.3 does the same for impersonation of a business. That rule took effect in 2024 and describes the general pattern. The FTC is not a party to this Pennsylvania case and has announced nothing about it.

How to Tell a Real Agency Notice From a Look-Alike

The mailed look-alike regulatory notice is an old format that keeps working because it targets businesses, which are used to receiving compliance paperwork and used to paying for licenses. The markers below are general and checkable. None of them is advice about your specific mail.

Price is the fastest test. Look up the fee on the agency's own site before paying anyone. A permit that the agency issues free is the single clearest tell, which is why this program is such an attractive target. Pennsylvania publishes its spotted lanternfly permit path on pa.gov and routes the training through extension.psu.edu.

Go to the agency by a route you chose. Do not use the phone number, web address, QR code or return envelope printed on the notice. Type the agency's own domain yourself, or call the number listed on that site. This is the same discipline that defeats most government impersonation scams, whether they arrive by phone, text or envelope.

Read the sender name literally. Official notices come from a named department or bureau of a government. An entity name that merely sounds governmental, like a "commission" that matches no agency on the state's own list of agencies, is checkable in a minute against the state's directory.

Treat an immediate penalty threat as a flag, not a deadline. Real regulators do send enforceable deadlines, but a letter that pairs an urgent penalty threat with an immediate purchase is running the fake invoice playbook. Verify the deadline at the agency before you act on it.

Check the logo against the live one. Look-alike letterhead usually approximates a seal rather than reproducing it. Open the agency's site in a second window and compare.

If you believe a business already paid one of these, two separate tracks matter: the payment-method track, which is usually the faster route to money, and the report track. Our guides cover which agency takes the report and what Pennsylvania's consumer protection law lets a scam victim do, including what a Bureau of Consumer Protection complaint can and cannot accomplish. If you are not sure yet whether something is a scam at all, start with the general checklist for spotting one.

Analysis: Why This Matters

The following is analysis from the Recording Law Editorial Team.

Most government impersonation coverage is about consumers: the fake IRS call, the toll text, the arrest-warrant threat. This filing points at a quieter variant that gets far less attention, which is alleged impersonation aimed at businesses holding a real compliance obligation.

That changes the economics of the lie. A consumer who gets a fake Social Security call has no genuine Social Security problem, so the scam has to manufacture one. A landscaping or trucking company inside the spotted lanternfly quarantine does have a real, live permit requirement, created by a real quarantine order, enforced by a real department. A letter that merely claims to be the next step in an obligation the recipient already knows exists does not have to invent urgency. It only has to arrive.

The free-program detail is what makes the alleged scheme legible. Governments give things away more often than people expect, and a free government service is a standing arbitrage opportunity for anyone willing to charge for it. The same pattern has recurred for years around free federal and state filings, free credit reports and free record requests. When an agency provides something at no cost, the agency's own page becomes the only reliable price quote, and a business that never checks that page has no way to know that the real price is zero and that every dollar it pays is pure loss.

It is also worth noticing which enforcer moved here. A state attorney general's consumer protection bureau, filing in a state trial court, is the institution closest to this kind of regional, program-specific fraud. A federal rule like 16 C.F.R. Part 461 describes the conduct in general terms, but a state-specific permit program is the kind of target a state consumer protection bureau is positioned to police. The remedies the office says it is after, an injunction, restitution and civil penalties, are the standard state consumer-protection set, and the restitution piece is the one that would matter to anyone who paid.

None of that tells us what happened. A complaint is one side's account, filed to be contested. What the filing does establish, regardless of outcome, is that the state believes letters of this kind reached Pennsylvania businesses, and that the permit and the training those letters allegedly sold are available at no charge from the Department of Agriculture and Penn State Extension. That part is verifiable today, by anyone, in about two minutes.

This is general legal information, not legal advice. Nothing here is an assessment of any particular letter, payment or legal claim, and reading it creates no attorney-client relationship. The allegations described are the Commonwealth's, untested in court, and no court has found either named defendant liable. If a mailing has cost your business money, consult a licensed Pennsylvania attorney.

Related articles

• Government Impersonation Scams: IRS, Social Security, Jury Duty, Police
• Pennsylvania Scam and Fraud Laws: Where to Report, Your Right to Sue
• Tech Support Scams and Fake Invoices
• How to Tell if Something Is a Scam
• Where to Report a Scam
• FTC Asks Whether Its Impersonation Rule Should Reach Platform Ad Tools

Last updated: 2026-10-04. This is a developing story; details verified as of 2026-10-04.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Pennsylvania spotted lanternfly permits actually free?

Yes, according to both the Attorney General's announcement and Penn State Extension's own course listing. The permit training for businesses is listed on the Penn State Extension site at a price of $0.00, and a company receives its permits after a designated employee passes the course. As of October 4, 2026 that Extension listing also shows that registration is closed at this time, so the course is free but not currently open for enrollment. Start at the Department of Agriculture's spotted lanternfly business page rather than at any link printed in a letter.

Who was sued, and where?

The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General announced on September 30, 2026 that its Bureau of Consumer Protection filed suit against Kevin Wardell and Diverse Solutions, LLC in the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas. The office named Senior Deputy Attorney General Paul D. Edger as the filing attorney.

Has anything been proved against the defendants?

No. Everything described here comes from the Commonwealth's own announcement of its filing. Those are allegations in a civil complaint, not findings by a court. No response from the defendants was available as of October 4, 2026, and no outcome has been announced.

What statute did the Attorney General plead?

The announcement does not say, and we did not obtain the complaint, so we cannot confirm it. The remedies the office describes, meaning an injunction, restitution for purchasers and civil penalties, match the remedies Pennsylvania's Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law gives the Attorney General, but matching remedies are not proof of what was pleaded.

What can the Attorney General recover under Pennsylvania's consumer protection law?

Under the statutory text, section 4 allows the Attorney General to seek a temporary or permanent injunction. Section 4.1 lets a court that issues a permanent injunction order the defendants to restore money or property acquired through a violation. Section 8(b) allows a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per violation where a court finds wilful use of an unlawful practice, rising to a ceiling of $3,000 per violation where the victim is sixty years of age or older. All of these are ceilings and conditions, not automatic awards.

Does the FTC Impersonation Rule apply to this case?

The FTC is not involved in this Pennsylvania lawsuit and has announced nothing about it. The rule is relevant only as background: 16 C.F.R. 461.2 makes falsely posing as a government entity or officer, or misrepresenting affiliation with one, an unfair or deceptive act under federal law. It describes the general pattern, not this case.

A letter told my business to buy a permit immediately. What should I check first?

Check the fee on the agency's own website before paying anything, and reach the agency through a web address or phone number you looked up yourself rather than one printed on the letter. If the agency issues the permit at no cost, as Pennsylvania does for the spotted lanternfly program, that alone answers the question. For anything specific to your situation, talk to a Pennsylvania attorney.