North Providence Man Sentenced for Defrauding COVID-Relief Program
Summary
A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Rhode Island dated July 12, 2022, issued with Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha. It announces that U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith sentenced Derrick Gadson of North Providence to eighteen months in federal prison, three years of supervised release and restitution totaling $20,727. According to the release, Gadson pleaded guilty in April to two counts of wire fraud and one count of theft of government money, admitting that while collecting Rhode Island unemployment benefits in June 2020 Gadson filed for benefits in Massachusetts and Arizona in names other than Gadson's own. The case was investigated by the FBI, the Rhode Island State Police and the Department of Labor inspector general.
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“North Providence Man Sentenced for Defrauding COVID-Relief Program.”
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Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Rhode Island
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, July 12, 2022
North Providence Man Sentenced for Defrauding COVID-
Relief Program
PROVIDENCE – A North Providence man who was receiving COVID-relief unemployment benefits
in Rhode Island, and fraudulently applied for and collected more than $20,000 in unemployment
benefits from two other states, has been sentenced to eighteen months in federal prison, announced
United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha.
Derrick Gadson, 35, pleaded guilty in federal court in April to two counts of wire fraud and one count
of theft of government money, admitting to a federal judge that, while collecting unemployment
benefits in Rhode Island in June 2020, he began filing for benefits in Massachusetts and Arizona,
fraudulently claiming that he lived and worked in both states. The fraudulent applications were filed
in names other than his own.
Gadson collected a total of $20,727 in federally funded unemployment insurance benefits that he
was not entitled to receive.
At sentencing on Monday, U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith sentenced Gadson to eighteen
months of incarceration in federal prison to be followed by three years of federal supervised release.
Gadson was ordered to pay restitution totaling $20,727.
This case, as well as other instances of criminal activity related to fraudulent applications for
pandemic-related unemployment insurance benefits are being investigated jointly by the FBI, the
Rhode Island State Police, and the U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Inspector General. Cases are
jointly reviewed, charged, and prosecuted by a team of prosecutors that include Assistant U.S.
Attorneys Denise M. Barton, Stacey P. Veroni, and G. Michael Seaman, and Rhode Island Assistant
Attorney General John M. Moreira, chief of the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Public Integrity
Unit.
Rhode Islanders who believe their personal identification has been stolen and used to fraudulently
obtain unemployment benefits are urged to contact the Rhode Island State Police
at financialcrimes@risp.gov or the FBI Providence office at (401) 272-8310.
In May 2021, the United States 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):
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
USAO - Rhode Island
Contact:
Jim Martin (401) 709-5357
Press Release Number:
22-104
Updated July 12, 2022
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