U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Defendant Sentenced To Over Eight Years For Scheme To Fraudulently Obtain More Than $1.8 Million In Covid-19 Cares Act Unemployment Insurance Benefits (USAO D-MD 10/01/2024) (2024-10-04)

Summary

Press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland, dated October 1, 2024, announcing that federal inmate Jonathan Henry was sentenced to 97 months imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release and restitution of $1,894,971 for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. According to the plea agreements, from March 22, 2020 through at least June 2021 Henry, Kenneth Dodd and Jason Haddox, inmates at FCI Fort Dix, and co-conspirators submitted fraudulent online applications for UI benefits in Maryland and other states. Henry admitted submitting approximately 191 fraudulent claims, of which 152 were paid. The release states that Dodd was earlier sentenced to 42 months and Haddox is scheduled to be sentenced on January 24, 2025.

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Full text

PRESS RELEASE


Defendant Sentenced To Over Eight Years
For Scheme To Fraudulently Obtain More
Than $1.8 Million In Covid-19 Cares Act
Unemployment Insurance Benefits
Tuesday, October 1, 2024

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

Defendant Perpetrated the Fraud While Incarcerated

Greenbelt, Maryland – Today, federal inmate Jonathan Henry, age 32, was sentenced to
97 months imprisonment followed by 3 years of supervised release and restitution in the
amount of $1,894,971 for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud and
aggravated identity theft, relating to the submission of fraudulent CARES Act
unemployment insurance benefits. Henry’s co-defendant, Kenneth Dodd, was
previously sentenced to 42 months imprisonment for his role in the offense, which he
will serve consecutively to previous sentences he is currently serving as a result of prior
federal felony convictions. A third defendant, Jason Haddox, is scheduled to be
sentenced on January 24, 2025.

The sentences are announced by Erek L. Barron, United States Attorney for the District of
Maryland; 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.

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. 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, from March 22,
2020 through at least June 2021, Henry, Dodd and Haddox were inmates at the Federal
Correctional Institution, Fort Dix (“FCI Fort Dix”). Henry, Dodd Haddox 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 personal 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.

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.

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 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
Angelina Thompson
USAMD.Press@usdoj.gov
(301) 344-4338

Updated October 1, 2024

Topics
CORONAVIRUS

FINANCIAL FRAUD

IDENTITY THEFT


Component
USAO - Maryland


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