A person and girl from San Bernardino County had been arrested following a nine-count federal grand jury indictment alleging they obtained greater than $2.1 million in Covid-19 aid funds.
Lisa Puente, 43, of Rialto, and Arthur Marquez, 53, had been arrested on Nov. 5 for allegedly submitting greater than 120 fraudulent functions for unemployment insurance coverage advantages utilizing stolen identities from California state prisoners and out of state victims.
They claimed of their functions that the victims used to stay and work in California when most victims didn’t stay in California.
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A person and girl from San Bernardino County had been arrested following a nine-count federal grand jury indictment alleging they obtained greater than $2.1 million in Covid-19 aid funds. (iStock)
Prosecutors from the U.S. Division of Justice said in a press launch that they ran the scheme from Feb. 2020 to Aug. 2023.
“The fraudulent functions falsely said that they had been people whose employment had been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which triggered eligibility for [unemployment insurance] advantages beneath federal legislation,” in line with the discharge.
Puente and Marquez used debit playing cards generated by the claims to withdraw the advantages from ATMs in addition to purchases from native companies.
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Puente and Marquez used debit playing cards generated by the claims to withdraw the advantages from ATMs in addition to buying objects from native companies. (Getty Pictures)
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They’re presently charged with six counts of mail fraud, one depend of use of unauthorized entry units and one depend every of aggravated id theft.
“If convicted, the defendants would face a statutory most sentence of 20 years in federal jail for every mail fraud depend, as much as 10 years in federal jail for the unauthorized entry system depend, and a compulsory two-year consecutive jail sentence for the aggravated id theft depend,” officers mentioned.
They’re each out on bond till their scheduled trial on Dec. 30.
