Chester County Woman Sentenced to Over One Year for Stealing Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Funds

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania dated December 16, 2021. It announces that Emily Baier of West Chester was sentenced by United States District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno to 14 months in prison and five years of supervised release for falsely claiming approximately $47,000 in pandemic unemployment compensation authorized by the CARES Act. The release states that Baier filed a Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claim in May 2020, certified claims for co-conspirator Jacob Fulton while Fulton was an inmate of Chester County Prison, and schemed between July and August 2020 to file claims for at least two other inmates. Baier pleaded guilty in September 2021 to mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

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                                      Department of Justice

                                        U.S. Attorney’s Office

                                  Eastern District of Pennsylvania

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                 Thursday, December 16, 2021



    Chester County Woman Sentenced to Over One Year for
     Stealing Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Funds
   Co-conspirator Was Previously Sentenced to 1 ½ Years for His Role in the
                                  Offense
PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Emily Baier,
28, of West Chester, PA, was sentenced to 14 months in prison and five years of supervised release by
United States District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno for falsely claiming and taking approximately
$47,000 in pandemic unemployment compensation authorized by the CARES Act. Her co-
conspirator, Jacob Fulton, 33, of Coatesville, PA, was sentenced to one and a half years in prison for
his role the scheme earlier this month.

On March 27, 2020, the CARES ACT was enacted and created the Pandemic Unemployment
Assistance (“PUA”) program, to provide unemployment benefits to workers who lost their jobs
because of the COVID-19 pandemic and who were ineligible for other unemployment compensation.
The defendant took advantage of and unlawfully profited from the PUA program by submitting and
continuing to certify fraudulent PUA claims for herself and for inmates of Chester County Prison,
including her co-conspirator, knowing that neither she nor these inmates were entitled to these
benefits.

Specifically, in May 2020, the defendant filed a PUA claim for herself knowing that she was not
eligible for such benefits because she was not unemployed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Baier continued to submit weekly submissions of certification that she and her co- conspirator—who
was at that time an inmate of Chester County Prison—were eligible for these benefits, all while
knowing that neither she nor her co-conspirator were eligible for these benefits. Then, between July
and August 2020, the defendant schemed with her co-conspirator to file PUA claims on behalf of at
least two other inmates and take a cut of the claim payments for themselves. In September 2021, the
defendant pleaded guilty mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud based on this
conduct.

“Pandemic Unemployment Assistance funds are intended to help working Americans continue to pay
their bills and make ends meet, even when hours and wages have dropped dramatically due to the
pandemic,” said U.S. Attorney Williams. “Thieves who attempt to take these funds unlawfully are
taking advantage of others’ misfortune – ripping them off while also ripping off all taxpayers who
fund the program. Baier fraudulently obtained thousands of dollars in funds that could have helped
struggling individuals.”

“Those who think they can exploit the system by stealing from the PUA Program should take notice
of the sentence Baier received,” said IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Yury Kruty.
“We will continue to use all resources at our disposal to investigate and hold accountable fraudsters
like Baier.”
“Emily Baier engaged in a scheme with her co-defendant to defraud the Pennsylvania Pandemic
Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program by obtaining personal information from inmates in
Chester County Jail and submitting fraudulent claims for PUA benefits on behalf of those inmates
even though they were incarcerated and not able and available to work. The U.S. Department of
Labor Office of Inspector General and its partners, such as the Pennsylvania Department of Labor
and Industry, will continue to work together to preserve the integrity of unemployment
compensation benefit programs by vigorously pursuing those who commit this type of fraud,” stated
Special Agent-In-Charge Syreeta Scott, Philadelphia Region, U.S. Department of Labor Office of
Inspector General.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service,
Criminal Investigations, and the U.S. Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General, and is
being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney J. Jeanette Kang.
Topic(s):
Financial Fraud
Component(s):
USAO - Pennsylvania, Eastern
Contact:
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA 615 Chestnut
Street, Suite 1250 Philadelphia, PA 19106 JENNIFER CRANDALL Media Contact 215-861-8300 If
you have not done so already, follow @USAO_EDPA and @USAttyWilliams on Twitter to get the
most up-to-date information about big cases and community news.
                                                                              Updated December 17, 2021


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