Former Suffolk County Corrections Officer Pleads Guilty to COVID Unemployment and Loan Fraud (Press Release, November 25, 2025)

Summary

Press release of the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts, dated November 25, 2025. Christnel Orisca of Boston, a former Suffolk County corrections officer, pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud and one count of making a false statement to a financial institution, arising out of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, traditional unemployment insurance and Paycheck Protection Program loan benefits obtained before his employment at the Suffolk County Sherriff's Department. The release says he collected approximately $54,700 in unemployment benefits and small business loan funds while employed full-time. Judge Julia E. Kobick scheduled sentencing for March 11, 2026. Wire fraud provides for up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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PRESS RELEASE

Former Suffolk County Corrections Officer Pleads
Guilty to COVID Unemployment and Loan Fraud
Tuesday, November 25, 2025

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


BOSTON – A former corrections officer employed by the Suffolk County Sherriff’s
Department pleaded guilty today to submitting fraudulent information in an effort to
obtain loans through CARES Act programs like the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
(PUA) program and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

Christnel Orisca, 25, of Boston, pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud and one count
of making a false statement to a financial institution, arising out of PUA, traditional
Unemployment Insurance and PPP loan benefits obtained prior to his employment at
the Suffolk County Sherriff’s Department. U.S. District Court Judge Julia E. Kobick
scheduled sentencing for March 11, 2026. Orisca was arrested and charged in December
2024.

Orisca was a Corrections Officer with the Suffolk County Sherriff’s Department from late
2021 to December 2024. Orisca fraudulently applied for pandemic unemployment and
small business loan benefits while working full-time, initially for a security company and
later for a delivery company. While employed full-time, Orisca collected approximately
$54,700 in unemployment benefits and small business loan funds.

In his PUA application, Orisca made fraudulent representations about his employment
status and thereafter falsely claimed, on a weekly basis, that he did not work and did not
receive any income during the prior week. In his PPP loan application, Orisca submitted
false statements to SBA-approved lenders, including about the income and/or payroll of
his purported small businesses, in order to obtain his loan. He also made false
representations on forms submitted to request that his PPP loans be forgiven.

The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years
of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. The charge of making false statements to a
financial institution provides for a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, five years of
supervised release and a $1 million fine. Sentences are imposed by a federal district
court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the
determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge of the
U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General; and Joseph V. Cuffari, Ph.D.,
Inspector General, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General
made the announcement today. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Police
Department and the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department provided valuable assistance
with the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Chao, Chief of the Public
Corruption & Special Prosecutions Unit, is prosecuting the case.

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 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
and https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus/combatingfraud.

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 via the https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/webform/ncdf-disaster-
complaint-form.

Updated November 25, 2025


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