Reports

A Seaside, Oregon, woman was sentenced to federal prison yesterday for submitting fraudulent pandemic unemployment applications, falsely claiming over two dozen employees, and causing the government to pay her over half a million dollars in benefits.

BOSTON – A former corrections officer employed by the Suffolk County Sherriff’s Department pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to submitting fraudulent information in an effort to obtain loans through CARES Act programs like the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

Darnell Jones, also known as “EJ,” was sentenced today by United States District Judge Dora L. Irizarry in federal court in Brooklyn to 145 months’ imprisonment for wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. During the height of the COVID‑19 pandemic, from March 2020 through August 2021, Jones used stolen personal identifying information to fraudulently obtain more than $800,000 from federally funded unemployment insurance programs established under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Jesus Ramos aka Manny, 42, of Dunkirk, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra, Jr. to theft of government funds, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

BOSTON – A Fitchburg, Mass. man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Worcester to his role in a fraud scheme that used the stolen identities of more than 100 individuals to obtain $440,000 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits from Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The defendant and his alleged co-conspirators also fraudulently obtained over $700,000 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits from Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio Washington and Nevada.

U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Lamont Brown, 37, of Dunkirk, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra, Jr. to theft of government funds, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

A South Carolina woman was sentenced to prison and ordered to pay substantial restitution for her role in a multi-state scheme to fraudulently obtain unemployment insurance benefits.