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U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Big Stone Gap Man Sentenced for Unemployment, Mail Fraud (USAO WD-VA 12/13/2021) (2021-12-17)

Summary

Press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Virginia, dated Monday, December 13, 2021, announcing that Johnny Hobbs of Big Stone Gap was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $164,470 in restitution. The release describes a larger conspiracy to defraud the government of more than $1.5 million in pandemic unemployment funds through false claims filed on the Virginia Employment Commission website. It states that Hobbs joined the scheme in May 2020 while incarcerated and, after release from jail, submitted claims and recertified weekly claims for co-conspirators. Co-defendant Farren Ricketts pleaded guilty to similar charges, and United States Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh announced the sentence.

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Cite this document

“U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Big Stone Gap Man Sentenced for Unemployment, Mail Fraud (USAO WD-VA 12/13/2021) (2021-12-17).” Original at www.oig.dol.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/u-s-department-of-labor-oig-big-stone-gap-man-sentenced-for-unemployme-09cd09de4b/, SHA-256 382da6f80cb4147b7bf4106e8847e91655a292bc392be9b3c4a982e6922f59c9.

Full text

                                      Department of Justice
                                        U.S. Attorney’s Office
                                     Western District of Virginia


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                     Monday, December 13, 2021

    Big Stone Gap Man Sentenced for Unemployment, Mail
                          Fraud
ABINGDON, Va., – A Big Stone Gap, Virginia man was sentenced last week to 60 months in federal
prison and ordered to pay $164,470 in restitution for his part in a much larger conspiracy to defraud
the government of more than $1.5 million in pandemic-related unemployment funds.

Johnny Hobbs, 37, joined co-defendant Farren Ricketts, 31, and others in a scheme to file fraudulent
claims for pandemic unemployment benefits via the Virginia Employment Commission [VEC]
website. Co-conspirators submitted unemployment claims containing materially false
representations for various individuals who were known to be ineligible to receive pandemic
unemployment benefits.

While incarcerated, Hobbs joined the scheme in May 2020, initially seeking to receive
unemployment benefits for himself. After he was released from jail, Hobbs approached Ricketts, and
the other co-conspirators, and accepted a limited role with their criminal enterprise submitting
claims to the VEC and recertifying weekly claims for other co-conspirators.

Ricketts, who pleaded guilty to similar charges, will be sentenced later this week.

United States Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh announced the sentence today.

The Department of Labor - Office of the Inspector General, the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal
Investigation (IRS-CI), the Russell County Sheriff’s Office, and the Norton Police Department in
Wise County investigated the case.

Assistant United States Attorney Daniel J. Murphy 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, 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 .
Component(s):
USAO - Virginia, Western

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2021-12-17-Big-Stone-Gap-Man-Sentenced-for-Unemployment-Mail-Fraud-USAO-WD-VA-12-13-2021.pdf
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Our copy
2021-12-17-Big-Stone-Gap-Man-Sentenced-for-Unemployment-Mail-Fraud-USAO-WD-VA-12-13-2021.pdf
Original
www.oig.dol.gov
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