Pandemic Darlings The pandemic economy, in original documents
Home Source documents Lebanon County Man Sentenced To 10 Months’ Imprisonment

Lebanon County Man Sentenced To 10 Months’ Imprisonment

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania dated May 5, 2022. It announces that Luis Mercado of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Sylvia H. Rambo to 10 months' imprisonment and ordered to pay $37,555 in restitution for fraudulently claiming Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. According to the release, Mercado began claiming the benefits in August 2020 while employed by the United States Department of Agriculture as a poultry inspector, reaffirmed unemployment status weekly and received $37,555. Mercado pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud, and the case was investigated by the Department of Agriculture and Department of Labor inspectors general.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Cite this document

“Lebanon County Man Sentenced To 10 Months’ Imprisonment.” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2022-05-09-lebanon-county-man-sentenced-to-10-months-imprisonment-for-6990d84efc/, SHA-256 8d66914f558e485d8e7c4a67e9358195753168823e57acd0433f01f7db6457ef.

Full text

                                     Department of Justice
                                       U.S. Attorney’s Office
                                  Middle District of Pennsylvania


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                        Thursday, May 5, 2022

        Lebanon County Man Sentenced To 10 Months’
      Imprisonment For Fraudulently Obtaining Pandemic
                 Unemployment Assistance
HARRISBURG – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
announced that Luis Mercado, age 44, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, was sentenced yesterday to 10
months’ imprisonment by U.S. District Court Judge Sylvia H. Rambo, for fraudulently claiming
pandemic unemployment assistance funds. Mercado was also ordered to pay $37,555 in restitution.

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.

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.

                                               ###
Topic(s):                                             Component(s):
Coronavirus                                           USAO - Pennsylvania, Middle

File and source

File
2022-05-09-Lebanon-County-Man-Sentenced-To-10-Months-Imprisonment-For-Fraudulently-Obtaining-Pandemic-Unemploy.pdf
Size
104,946 bytes
SHA-256
8d66914f558e485d8e7c4a67e9358195753168823e57acd0433f01f7db6457ef
Our copy
2022-05-09-Lebanon-County-Man-Sentenced-To-10-Months-Imprisonment-For-Fraudulently-Obtaining-Pandemic-Unemploy.pdf
Original
No public link identified.
Back to top