Long Island Woman Sentenced for Unemployment Insurance Fraud (Press Release, February 2, 2023)

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York dated February 2, 2023. It announces that Briana Garland of Uniondale was sentenced to 2 years of probation and ordered by United States District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby to pay $19,580 in restitution to the State of New York for conspiring with a New York State prisoner to obtain unemployment insurance benefits. According to the release, Garland pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and admitted submitting a false claim in the name of Bare Hill inmate Reginald Thornton. It reports that Thornton was sentenced to 51 months, and that co-defendants Lord Paulin and Rhasha Wright received 19 months and 24 months and one day.

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PRESS RELEASE



Long Island Woman Sentenced for
Unemployment Insurance Fraud
Thursday, February 2, 2023

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of New York


ALBANY, NEW YORK – Briana Garland, age 30, of Uniondale, New York, was sentenced
today to 2 years of probation for conspiring with a New York State prisoner to obtain
unemployment insurance benefits by fraud. Garland is the fourth and final defendant to
be sentenced in related cases stemming from pandemic-related schemes involving
prisoners at the Bare Hill Correctional Facility in Malone, New York.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman; Jonathan
Mellone, Special Agent in Charge, New York Region, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of
Inspector General (USDOL-OIG); Matthew Scarpino, Special Agent in Charge of the
Buffalo Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Ketty Larco-Ward,
Inspector in Charge of the Boston Division of the United States Postal Inspection Service
(USPIS); Anthony J. Annucci, Acting Commissioner of the New York State Department of
Corrections and Community Supervision (NYSDOCCS); and Roberta Reardon,
Commissioner of the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL).

Garland previously pled guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud. She admitted to
submitting a false unemployment insurance claim to NYSDOL in the name of Bare Hill
inmate Reginald Thornton. Prisoners were not eligible to receive unemployment
insurance benefits. United States District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby also ordered her to
pay $19,580 in restitution to the State of New York.

Thornton previously pled guilty to participating in two prison-based unemployment
insurance fraud conspiracies and was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison, to be
served after his state prison term ends. Thornton’s co-defendants in a related case, Lord
Paulin and Rhasha Wright, were previously sentenced to 19 months and 24 months and
one day in federal prison, respectively.
USDOL-OIG, HSI, USPIS, and the Offices of Special Investigations of NYSDOCCS and
NYSDOL investigated the cases. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua R. Rosenthal prosecuted
the cases.

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.
Updated February 2, 2023

Topics
CORONAVIRUS

FINANCIAL FRAUD
Component
USAO - New York, Northern


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