3 Inland Empire Women Plead Guilty to Wire Fraud for Illegally Obtaining COVID-Related Jobless Benefits in Prison Inmates’ Names | USAO-CDCA

RIVERSIDE, California – Three women of the Inland Empire have pleaded guilty to criminal charges accusing them of using information from others – including California prison inmates – to apply for pandemic-related unemployment benefits, with each defendant at least US $ 350,000 -Dollars caused losses.

Paris Denise Thomas, 33, of San Bernardino, pleaded guilty today to indicting one piece of information on wire fraud charges. US District Judge Jesus G. Bernal has scheduled a hearing on the verdict for September 13th.

On Friday, Sequoia Edwards, 35, of Moreno Valley, and Mireya Ramos, 42, of Colton, each pleaded guilty to being charged with wire fraud once. US District Judge John W. Holcomb has scheduled a hearing for Ramos on August 27th. The Edwards conviction hearing will be scheduled at a later date to be determined by Judge Holcomb.

All three women face a maximum legal sentence of 30 years in federal prison for their admission of guilt.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, passed by Congress and went into effect in March 2020, provided additional unemployment insurance (UI) benefits to qualified individuals and helped provide UI benefits to those who Have not otherwise qualified, including business owners, the self-employed, independent contractors and those with limited work experience.

According to their informed consent, from June 2020 through December 2020, Thomas filed at least 47 fraudulent UI claims with the California Employment Development Department (EDD), which manages the UI program in California.

Thomas admitted having obtained the names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, and other personally identifiable information from inmates of California prisons and others that she used to file UI benefit applications over the internet as if those individuals were filing the claims themselves would. Thomas incorrectly presented to the EDD that the inmates were unemployed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In return for cash payments, Thomas provided third parties with the electronic service payment debit cards, which were regularly loaded with UI services and EDD website credentials in connection with the fraudulent UI claims.

In total, Thomas arranged for EDD to pay out around $ 477,000 in fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits.

Edwards admitted in her informed consent form that she filed at least 27 fraudulent UI claims with the EDD from July 2020 to August 2020, using information from California prison inmates and others and falsely claiming that she was her job because of the COVID . have lost -19 pandemic. Overall, Edwards led the EDD to pay out approximately $ 456,218 in UI services from July 2020 to March 2021.

Ramos admitted that from June 2020 through December 2020, she filed about 37 fraudulent UI claims to the EDD using the personal information of California prison inmates and others, and falsely stated to the EDD that the inmates were suspicious of the COVID-19. Pandemic were unemployed. Ramos entered wrong professions for each “applicant” and created various email addresses so that she could monitor the status of each application in accordance with her declaration of consent.

Overall, Ramos caused the EDD to fraudulently disbursement about $ 353,532 in UI services from June 2020 to January 2021.

The United States Department of Labor – Office of Inspector General, the FBI, and the United States Postal Inspection Service investigated these matters. Investigators from the California Employment Development Department and special agents from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation – Office of Correctional Safety provided significant assistance.

Byron R. Tuyay, US Assistant Attorney at the Riverside Branch Office, is pursuing these cases.