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Lebanon County Man Pleads Guilty to Fraudulently Obtaining Pandemic Unemployment Assistance

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania dated Wednesday, December 1, 2021. It states that on November 30, 2021, Luis Mercado, age 44, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, pled guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Sylvia H. Rambo to a single count of wire fraud for fraudulently claiming pandemic unemployment assistance. According to United States Attorney John C. Gurganus, Mercado began claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance in August 2020 while employed with the United States Department of Agriculture, falsely claiming to be unemployed due to the pandemic. The release states that Mercado reaffirmed the unemployment status weekly and ultimately received $37,555 in fraudulently obtained benefits.

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“Lebanon County Man Pleads Guilty to Fraudulently Obtaining Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2021-12-07-lebanon-county-man-pleads-guilty-to-fraudulently-obtaining-54eee5577c/, SHA-256 902cc6bca20483aa81412a673d81eb6097cf05054e990cedd2be98cf6c132655.

Full text

                      United States Attorney John C. Gurganus
                           Middle District of Pennsylvania

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                               PIO CONTACT: Dawn Clark
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2021                         WORK: (717) 221-4458
WWW.JUSTICE.GOV/USAO/PAM                            CELL:   (717) 975-7128
                                                    EMAIL: Dawn.Clark2@usdoj.gov

          LEBANON COUNTY MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO FRAUDULENTLY
             OBTAINING PANDEMIC UNEMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE

       HARRISBURG – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of
Pennsylvania announced that on November 30, 2021, Luis Mercado, age 44, of Lebanon,
Pennsylvania, pled guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Sylvia H. Rambo, to wire fraud for
fraudulently claiming pandemic unemployment assistance funds.

        According to United States Attorney John C. Gurganus, Mercado began claiming
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance in August 2020 despite being employed with the United
States Department of Agriculture as a poultry inspector. Mercado falsely claimed that he was
unemployed due to the pandemic or a major disaster, and he received benefits based on this false
claim. Mercado reaffirmed his unemployment status on a weekly basis and ultimately received
$37,555 in fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits. Mercado pleaded guilty to a single
count of wire fraud based on his course of conduct.

       “This investigation and prosecution should send a strong zero-tolerance message to those
individuals who explicitly apply for aid to exploit taxpayer funded pandemic relief programs,”
said Bethanne M. Dinkins, Special Agent in Charge, USDA-Office of Inspector General. “We
appreciate the partnership with our federal partners in pursuing this type of fraud and holding
these bad actors to account in this great time of need.”

       “Luis Mercado fraudulently applied for and received Pennsylvania Pandemic
Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits,” stated Syreeta Scott, Special Agent-in-Charge,
Philadelphia Region, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General. “Mercado
submitted weekly certifications where he falsely certified that he was unemployed due to
COVID-19 while he was actively employed as a food inspector by the United States Department
of Agriculture. The U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General will continue to work
with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry and our federal law enforcement
partners to safeguard the integrity of unemployment compensation benefits programs.”
        On May 17, 2021, 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.

        Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can
report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF)
Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at:
https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

        The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector
General and the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney
Paul J. Miovas, Jr. is prosecuting the case.

       A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the
applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

        The maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is twenty years of imprisonment,
a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. Under the Federal Sentencing
Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the
nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the
defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the
defendant's educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum
penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific
defendant.

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