Virginia Inmate Pleads Guilty to Involvement in Pandemic Unemployment Benefits Scheme
Summary
A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia dated Wednesday, July 28, 2021, announcing a guilty plea in Case No. 2:21-cr-33. It states that Michael Lee Lewis, Jr., 41, of Chesapeake, an inmate at the Augusta Correctional Center, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud before U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson. According to court documents, Lewis worked with Mary Landon Benton and Angelica Cartwright-Powers from May 2020 to collect other inmates' personally identifiable information and apply for Virginia unemployment benefits. The release states that the conspirators initially obtained $436,834, that proceeds amounted to over $330,000 after the Virginia Employment Commission reclaimed some funds, and that Benton and Cartwright-Powers have pleaded guilty.
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“Virginia Inmate Pleads Guilty to Involvement in Pandemic Unemployment Benefits Scheme.”
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Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of Virginia
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Virginia Inmate Pleads Guilty to Involvement in Pandemic
Unemployment Benefits Scheme
NORFOLK, Va. – A Virginia inmate pleaded guilty today to his involvement in a scheme to obtain
pandemic-related unemployment benefits by using the personal identifying information of over 30
other Virginia prison inmates.
According to court documents, in 2020, Michael Lee Lewis, Jr., 41, of Chesapeake, was incarcerated
at the Augusta Correctional Center. Beginning in May 2020, he worked with Mary Landon Benton, 38,
of Portsmouth, and Angelica Cartwright-Powers, 35, of Norfolk to collect the personally identifiable
information of other inmates to fraudulently apply for Virginia unemployment benefits during the
COVID-19 pandemic. Lewis provided Benton and Cartwright-Powers information for inmates at the
Augusta Correctional Center, resulting in approximately twenty-one successful unemployment claims
for inmates there. Benton, with the help of Lewis and the others, submitted successful applications for
Virginia unemployment benefits for 31 inmates, and Cartwright-Powers submitted successful
applications for four inmates.
Lewis and his co-conspirators, along with the prisoners whose information was used for the
unemployment applications, shared the proceeds of the crimes, which amounted to over $330,000.
Although the conspirators initially obtained $436,834, the Virginia Employment Commission was able
to reclaim some of the disbursed funds after discovering the fraud.
Benton and Cartwright-Powers have since pleaded guilty to their respective roles in the conspiracy.
Lewis pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced on December 2. He
faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less
than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking
into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Raj Parekh, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Joseph V. Cuffari, Inspector
General for the Department of Homeland Security; Derek Pickle, Special Agent-in-Charge of the
Washington, DC Regional Office, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General; and Paul
Haymes, Chief of Investigations, Virginia Department of Corrections, Special Investigations Unit,
made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson accepted the plea.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Gantt is prosecuting the case.
This investigation was conducted under the auspices of “Operation Checkmate,” the Virginia
Department of Corrections Inmate Unemployment Insurance Fraud Task Force. The task force is led
by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, DOL-OIG, DHS-OIG, and the Virginia
Department of Corrections. This investigation included assistance from the U.S. Secret Service’s
Richmond Field Office, the Portsmouth Police Department, and the Virginia Employment
Commission.
On May 17, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal
the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance
efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate
and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies
tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and
incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover
fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from
prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please
visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern
District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District
Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:21-cr-33.
Topic(s):
Coronavirus
Financial Fraud
Component(s):
USAO - Virginia, Eastern
Contact:
USAVAE.Press@usdoj.gov
Updated July 28, 2021
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