Seventeen individuals involved in a COVID-19 pandemic unemployment benefit scheme have learned their punishment with the final defendant sentenced earlier this month in a U.S. District Court in Abingdon.
Sentences ranged from 12 months and one day to 60 months in prison plus restitution. In total, the defendants obtained $341,205 in pandemic relief funds to which they were not entitled.
According to court documents, between March 2020 and September 2021, Josef Brown, Jonathan Webb and Crystal Shaw developed a scheme to file fraudulent claims and recertifications for pandemic unemployment benefits through the Virginia Employment Commission website.
The scheme involved the collection of personal identification information from inmates housed at Southwest Virginia Regional Jail Authority facilities in Haysi (Dickenson County) and Abington (Washington County), as well as personal friends. The conspirators used that information to file for unemployment benefits for incarcerated individuals and others who were ineligible for the benefits.
ICYMI
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Virginia paid approximately $1.1 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021.
Sentencing
Crystal Shaw, one of the lead organizers of the conspiracy, was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison for her role. She was also ordered to pay $287,459 in restitution to the Virginia Employment Commission.
Jonathan Webb, the individual charged with recruiting others to file fraudulent claims, mostly inmates at local jails, was sentenced to 48 months in prison and was ordered to pay $150,218 in restitution.
Josef Brown, another incarcerated individual who recruited others to file fraudulent claims, was sentenced to 35 months in prison and was ordered to pay $119,660 in restitution.
15 other co-defendants were also sentenced:
- Joseph Hass, 27 months
- Brian Addair, 24 months
- Russell Stiltner, 24 months
- Daniel Horton, 21 months
- Christopher Webb, 20 months
- Cara Camille Bailey, 19 months
- Jessica Lester, 19 months
- Justin Meadows, 18 months
- Terrence Vilacha, 18 months
- Clinton Michael Altizer, 12 months and 1 day
- Stephanie Amber Barton, 12 months and 1 day
- Jeramy Blake Farmer, 12 months and 1 day
- Hayleigh McKenzie Wolfe, 12 months and 1 day
- Jason Dale Worley, 12 months and 1 day
All defendants were also ordered to pay restitution to the Virginia Employment Commission for the fraudulent claims.
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