Menifee Woman Pleads Guilty to Federal Criminal Charge for Fraudulently Obtaining Over $500,000

Summary

A press release of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California dated Wednesday, December 16, 2020, announcing that Cara Marie Kirk-Connell of Menifee pleaded guilty to a single-count information charging use of an unauthorized access device. According to the plea agreement, from May to October 2020 Kirk-Connell knowingly used approximately 50 unauthorized access devices and obtained EDD debit cards containing more than $500,000 in COVID-related unemployment benefits. EDD records showed approximately $534,149 in benefits applied for and authorized with the cards and identities, according to an affidavit. United States District Judge André Birotte Jr. scheduled an April 9, 2021 sentencing hearing, with a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years. Press Release Number: 20-246.

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Full text

                                     Department of Justice
                                       U.S. Attorney’s Office
                                    Central District of California

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                Wednesday, December 16, 2020
  Menifee Woman Pleads Guilty to Federal Criminal Charge
   for Fraudulently Obtaining Over $500,000 in COVID-19
                       Jobless Relief
      LOS ANGELES – A Riverside County woman pleaded guilty today to a federal criminal charge
for fraudulently obtaining more than $500,000 in COVID-related unemployment benefits for
herself.

     Cara Marie Kirk-Connell, 32, of Menifee, pleaded guilty to a single-count information charging
her with use of an unauthorized access device.

     According to her plea agreement, from May to October 2020, Kirk-Connell knowingly used
approximately 50 unauthorized access devices. Specifically, she used stolen personal identifiable
information, such as dates of birth and Social Security numbers, to apply for unemployment
insurance benefits in the names of other people.

     Based upon Kirk-Connell’s false and fraudulent applications, she obtained from the California
Employment Development Department (EDD) multiple debit cards that contained more than
$500,000 in COVID-related unemployment benefits to which she was not entitled, the plea
agreement states.

      Kirk-Connell admitted she knew people who access the “dark web” to purchase stolen identities
that she used to then file fraudulent claims with EDD. She further admitted to watching YouTube
videos that instructed viewers on how to commit EDD fraud.

     When Murietta police arrested Kirk-Connell on September 11 during a traffic stop, she
possessed eight EDD debit cards in other people’s names and, the day before her arrest, Kirk-Connell
used fraudulently obtained EDD debit cards to withdraw more than $1,000 in cash. When federal
law enforcement arrested Kirk-Connell on October 9, she possessed in her purse four EDD debit
cards in victims’ names, four additional debit cards in victims’ names in her car trunk, and
approximately $10,000 in cash, according to the plea agreement.

      EDD records showed that the cards and identities that Kirk-Connell possessed had been used to
apply for and authorize approximately $534,149 in COVID-related unemployment benefits from
California’s EDD program, of which nearly $270,000 had already been spent, according to an
affidavit filed with a criminal complaint in this case.

      The California EDD distributes unemployment benefits under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and
Economic Security Act, passed by Congress in March. The CARES Act expanded unemployment
benefits to cover those who were previously ineligible, including business owners, self-employed
workers, and independent contractors, who were put out of business or significantly reduced their
services because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

     United States District Judge André Birotte Jr. has scheduled an April 9, 2021 sentencing
hearing, at which time Kirk-Connell will face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal
prison.
     This investigation, which is a result of the Department of Justice’s National Unemployment
Insurance Fraud Task Force, was conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Inspector
General, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the United States Postal Inspection Service. California EDD
Criminal Investigations and the Murrieta Police Department provided substantial assistance.

      Assistant United States Attorney Charles E. Pell of the Santa Ana Branch Office is prosecuting
this case.


Topic(s):                                              Contact:
Coronavirus                                            Ciaran McEvoy
                                                       Public Information Officer United States
Component(s):                                          Attorney’s Office Central District of California
USAO - California, Central                             (Los Angeles) ciaran.mcevoy@usdoj.gov (213)
                                                       894-4465

                                                       Press Release Number:
                                                       20-246


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