Investigators and prosecutors have started arresting suspects who have been defrauding Californians out of their unemployment money during the pandemic.
Much of the widespread California Employment Development Department (EDD) fraud has been carried out by prison inmates and organized crime networks in other countries. But there are several other suspects outside of prison and crime networks.
Among the first to be arrested is a former EDD employee from Roseville.
Federal authorities were contacted on December 1 after Bank of America investigators discovered an unemployment claim open under the name of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein.
Investigators found that the same person who created the fake Feinstein profile had also opened 16 other profiles with the EDD, according to the Sacramento News & Review. All accounts were under different names but linked by the same residential or email address.
Using phone records and computer forensics, they were able to link the fake profiles to Andrea Gervais of Roseville. The 43-year-old had previously worked as an office assistant for the EDD between 2010 and 2018. The Review reports that Gervais had been fired from the job on the suspicion that she'd attempted to commit fraud with a money order.
Gervais is said to have had over $200,000 unemployment benefits paid out to her Roseville address through EDD debit cards. There is also footage from bank security cameras showing her withdraw money from an ATM with one of the illegally obtained EDD debit cards.
Gervais is facing federal charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. She faces up to 20 years in prison if she is convicted of both.
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