Castlewood Man Sentenced to Prison for Defrauding Government in Pandemic Unemployment Scheme

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Virginia dated March 30, 2022. It announces that Timothy Hunter Hileman of Castlewood, one of the 33 individuals charged with defrauding the federal government of more than $499,000 in pandemic unemployment benefits, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. Hileman pleaded guilty in November 2021 to conspiracy to defraud the government, conspiracy to commit mail fraud and making false statements to federal law enforcement officers, according to the release. It states that Hileman conspired with Leelynn Danielle Chytka, Gregory Marcus Tackett, Jeffery Ryan Tackett and others to file fraudulent claims with the Virginia Employment Commission, and reports that Chytka and Greg Tackett were each sentenced to nine years and Jeff Tackett to eight and a half years.

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“Castlewood Man Sentenced to Prison for Defrauding Government in Pandemic Unemployment Scheme.” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2022-04-01-castlewood-man-sentenced-to-prison-for-defrauding-governmen-bab958c387/, SHA-256 bb89d2f72eac63c55452634236a4fb5976d98bde4d76e599b38192bbf24ad5b4.

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                                     Department of Justice
                                        U.S. Attorney’s Office
                                     Western District of Virginia


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                    Wednesday, March 30, 2022

      Castlewood Man Sentenced to Prison for Defrauding
       Government in Pandemic Unemployment Scheme
ABINGDON, Va. – One of the 33 individuals charged with defrauding the federal government of
more than $499,000 in pandemic unemployment benefits was sentenced this week to 30 months in
federal prison.

Timothy Hunter Hileman, 29, of Castlewood, Virginia, pleaded guilty in November 2021 to one count
of conspiracy to defraud the government, one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and one
count of making false statements to federal law enforcement officers.

According to court documents, over the course of nine months, Hileman conspired with Leelynn
Danielle Chytka, Gregory Marcus Tackett, Jeffery Ryan Tackett, and others to file fraudulent claims
with the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) on behalf of dozens of individuals who were not
entitled to those benefits. Chytka, the mastermind behind the scheme, and Greg Tackett were both
sentenced to nine years in prison, while Jeff Tackett received eight and a half years’ imprisonment.

Conspiracy members lied on VEC forms as part of the scheme to make filers appear eligible for
unemployment benefits. Because pandemic unemployment benefits were paid weekly, each of those
filings to the VEC website re-verified and re-certified the false statements on numerous occasions
throughout the scheme, with the total cost to the United States of over $499,000.

United States Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh of the Western District of Virginia; Syreeta Scott,
Special Agent in Charge, Philadelphia Regional Office, U.S. Department of Labor - Office of Inspector
General; and Special Agent in Charge Darrell J. Waldon of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal
Investigation Washington, D.C., Field Office made the announcement.

The Department of Labor - Office of the Inspector General, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal
Investigation Washington, D.C., Field Office, the Norton Police Department, and the Russell County
Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

Assistant United States Attorney Daniel J. Murphy prosecuted the case.

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 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
Topic(s):                                          Component(s):
Coronavirus                                        USAO - Virginia, Western

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