Charlestown Man Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for Identity Theft and Fraud Related to Unemployment Benefits

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts dated May 4, 2022. It announces that a Charlestown man referred to as "John Doe" was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release for using the name and Social Security number of a U.S. citizen. Doe pleaded guilty on Dec. 22, 2021, to passport application false statements, false representation of a Social Security number, three counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, according to the release. It states that Doe applied for unemployment insurance with the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance using a Puerto Rican resident's identity and received over $15,000 from April through September 2020.

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                                     Department of Justice

                                        U.S. Attorney’s Office

                                      District of Massachusetts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                 Wednesday, May 4, 2022



  Charlestown Man Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for
Identity Theft and Fraud Related to Unemployment Benefits
BOSTON – A Charlestown man living under a false identity was sentenced today in federal court in
Boston on charges arising from his use of the name and Social Security number of a U.S. citizen.

An individual referred to as “John Doe” was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper
to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release. On Dec. 22, 2021, Doe pleaded guilty to
one count of false statements on a United States passport application, one count of false
representation of a Social Security number, three counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated
identity theft.

On or about March 31, 2020, Doe used the name and personally identifiable information (PII) of a
Puerto Rican resident to apply for Unemployment Insurance (UI) with the Massachusetts
Department of Unemployment Assistance (MA DUA). On April 1, 2020, MA DUA approved the claim
and began issuing benefits to Doe via a prepaid debit card, which he used for cash withdrawals at
ATM machines and for the purchase of goods and services. As a result, from April through
September 2020, Doe fraudulently received over $15,000 in UI benefits under the stolen identity.

In 2017, Doe used the victim’s Social Security number to apply for a duplicate driver’s license with
the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles and, in 2010, used the victim’s name and PII to apply
for a United States passport. Further investigation revealed that Doe had been using the victim’s
name and personal identifiers since at least 2000 and, since 1992, he had provided at least four other
names when he was arrested by police and to apply for and receive driver’s licenses.

United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins; Jonathan Davidson, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S.
Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service, Boston Field Office; Matthew B. Millhollin, Special
Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; and Jonathan Mellone, Special
Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of
Investigations, Labor Racketeering and Fraud made the announcement today. Assistant U.S.
Attorneys Alathea Porter, Benjamin Saltzman and James Herbert of Rollins’ Criminal Division
prosecuted the case.

This investigation was conducted by the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security
Service together with Homeland Security’s Investigation’s Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force
(DBFTF), a specialized field investigative group comprised of personnel from various local, state, and
federal agencies with expertise in detecting, deterring, and disrupting organizations and individuals
involved in various types of document, identity, and benefit fraud schemes.

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.
Topic(s):
Coronavirus
Financial Fraud
Component(s):
USAO - Massachusetts
                                                                                 Updated May 4, 2022


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