Two Defendants Plead Guilty in Scheme to Fraudulently Obtain More Than $1.8 Million

Summary

A press release of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland, dated Friday, December 1, 2023, announcing that federal inmates Jason Haddox and Jonathan Henry pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, and that Henry also pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft, over fraudulent CARES Act unemployment insurance claims. According to the plea agreements, from March 22, 2020 through at least June 2021 Haddox and Henry were inmates at FCI Fort Dix and, with co-conspirators, submitted fraudulent online applications for UI benefits in Maryland and other states. Haddox's claims in other states totaled at least $292,451 in losses; Henry admitted submitting approximately 191 claims, of which 152 were paid, with an actual loss of approximately $1,894,971. Sentencing is scheduled for March 13, 2024 and March 22, 2024.

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PRESS RELEASE



Two Defendants Plead Guilty in
Scheme to Fraudulently Obtain
More Than $1.8 Million in COVID-
19 CARES Act Unemployment
Insurance Benefits
Friday, December 1, 2023


For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland

Defendants Perpetrated the Fraud While Incarcerated in Federal
Prison

Greenbelt, Maryland – Federal inmates Jason Haddox, age 40, and Jonathan Henry, age
32, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, and Henry also
pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft, relating to the submission of fraudulent
CARES Act unemployment insurance benefits. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and
Economic Security (“CARES”) Act was a federal law enacted in March 2020 to provide
emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering from the economic effects caused
by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The guilty pleas were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland
Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge Troy W. Springer of the National Capital Region
U.S. Department of Labor - Office of Inspector General (“DOL-OIG”); and Postal
Inspector in Charge Damon E. Wood of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (“USPIS”) -
Washington Division.

Financial assistance offered through the CARES Act included expanded eligibility for
Unemployment Insurance (“UI”) benefits and increased UI benefits through the
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program (“PUA”), Federal Pandemic
Unemployment Compensation (“FPUC”), and the Lost Wages Assistance Program
(“LWAP”).
According to their plea agreements, during the time of the conspiracy, March 22, 2020
through at least June 2021, Haddox and Henry were inmates at the Federal Correctional
Institution, Fort Dix (“FCI Fort Dix”). Haddox, Henry, and their co-conspirators (both
inmates and outside individuals), submitted fraudulent online applications for UI
benefits in Maryland and other states. Henry and other conspirators used the personally
identifying information (“PII”) of identity theft victims in many of the applications. Based
on the information in the fraudulent applications, the Maryland Department of Labor,
which is responsible for processing applications for UI benefits in Maryland, issued
prepaid debit cards in the names of the applicants and mailed them to addresses
included on the applications, which were accessible to the conspirators. The defendants
and their co-conspirators used the prepaid debit cards to withdraw money from ATMs
and to make retail purchases.

In addition to fraudulent Maryland UI claims, Haddox submitted fraudulent UI claims in
Arizona, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Louisiana, Illinois, and New York, totaling at least
$292,451 in losses. Henry admitted that he used the PII of identity theft victims to
submit approximately 191 fraudulent claims, the majority in Maryland but also in
Washington, D.C., Virginia, and North Carolina. Of the fraudulent claims submitted, 152
claims were paid, with an actual loss of approximately $1,894,971.

Haddox faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for conspiracy to
commit wire fraud and mail fraud. U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow has
scheduled sentencing for him on March 13, 2024, at 2:30 p.m.

Henry and the government have agreed that, if the Court accepts the plea agreement,
they will jointly recommend that Henry be sentenced to 97 months in federal
prison. Judge Chasanow has scheduled sentencing for Henry on March 22, 2024 at 9:30
a.m.

The District of Maryland Strike Force is one of five strike forces established throughout
the United States by the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute COVID-
19 fraud, including fraud relating to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security
(“CARES”) Act. The CARES Act was designed to provide emergency financial assistance
to Americans suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The
strike forces focus on large-scale, multi-state pandemic relief fraud perpetrated by
criminal organizations and transnational actors. The strike forces are interagency law
enforcement efforts, using prosecutor-led and data analyst-driven teams designed to
identify and bring to justice those who stole pandemic relief funds.

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.

United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended the DOL-OIG and the USPIS for their
work in the investigation. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes,
who is prosecuting the case.

For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources
available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao/md.

                                          ###

Contact
Marcia Lubin
(410) 209-4854

Updated December 1, 2023

Topic
CORONAVIRUS
Component
USAO - Maryland


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