SYRACUSE — The Mail-Journal, the sister publication of Ink Free News,  learned UnityComm, a limited liability corporation, which provided local reseller, toll reseller, interconnected voice over internet protocol and inter exchangeable carrier services in Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas was ordered to pay the Federal Communications Commission $100,000 in fines.

The fines were levied for UnityComm, which was owned by Syracuse resident Ben Plikerd, for failing to file telecommunications reporting worksheets with the Universal Service Administration Company.

According to the court documents, failing to turn these worksheets in gave UnityComm an unfair economic advantage over its competitors who, because of UnityComm’s filing violation, had to pay more than their share for the cost of three federal programs, the Universal Service Fund, Telecommunications Relay Service Fund, Local Number Portability and North American Numbering Plan.

UnityComm had 30 days from the release date of the court documents, which was Dec. 19, 2017, to pay the fine. However, Plikerd told The Mail-Journal UnityComm went out of business in 2016.

“We have filed paperwork to notify them of this already and they have corrected the issue, but said it will take a while. Everything with the FCC is slow,” Plikerd said.

The FCC did not respond to several phone messages.