Michigan – A woman who used to work for Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency and her ex-boyfriend have been sentenced in federal court for their parts in a fraud that stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from the state’s unemployment system.
Federal prosecutors said that the sentences were given after both individuals pleaded guilty. After admitting to aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, 44-year-old Timeka Johnson was given a 42-month prison sentence.
Ray Anthony Eddington, 45, was sentenced to 36 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy for committing wire fraud. He was her co-conspirator. U.S. District Court Chief Judge Stephen J. Murphy III ordered the sentence.
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Johnson worked for the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency, where she was in charge of checking and approving unemployment claims. Court papers show that she took advantage of her position by using internal access to change claims that were made in the names of people who didn’t know what she was doing. Prosecutors said she got around fraud protections, uploaded fake documents, and falsely verified claims as eligible for benefits.
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The plan included giving out unauthorized debit cards linked to false claims and approving payments that should never have been made. The court documents say that Johnson also paid at least one other agency worker to illegally access and amend claims.
Many of the benefits that were falsely given out were then taken out of local ATMs by Eddington, who helped turn the illegal payments into cash. The two of them together led the state to make more than $250,000 in illegal unemployment payouts.
Both offenders were sentenced to pay back $250,001 in restitution as part of their sentences. This money was meant to offset the losses created by the conspiracy.
Federal officials who were involved in the case stressed how serious the breach of trust was. Jerome F. Gorgon Jr., the U.S. Attorney, said that Johnson’s actions were especially harmful because she worked for the organization that ran the public assistance program for people who were out of employment.
Several federal and state agencies investigated the case. These included the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, the FBI, and Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency. The prosecutors noted that the joint effort was very important in finding and preventing the fraud.