U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Florida Man Who Stole Over $170,000 in Covid-19 Unemployment Insurance Benefits Sentenced to Over Five Years in Federal Prison (USAO D-MD 07/07/2022) (2022-06-17)

Summary

Press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland, dated June 7, 2022, announcing that U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher sentenced Christopher Guy of Tampa, Florida to 65 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, and aggravated identity theft, and ordered $176,970 in restitution. According to the plea agreement, from May 26, 2020, to August 5, 2020, Guy and co-conspirators submitted fraudulent unemployment applications to the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission and other agencies using identity theft victims' information. The release states that on August 5, 2020, Howard County Police arrested Guy after a laptop purchase with a victim's debit card, and a hotel room search recovered 13 additional debit cards and $11,619 in cash.

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“U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Florida Man Who Stole Over $170,000 in Covid-19 Unemployment Insurance Benefits Sentenced to Over Five Years in Federal Prison (USAO D-MD 07/07/2022) (2022-06-17).” Original at www.oig.dol.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/u-s-department-of-labor-oig-florida-man-who-stole-over-170-000-in-covi-62856a8c5c/, SHA-256 1f92478686280846f4a82a65d06ce8e092e59ceb64e7cf81ea1bf94c1ea7198f.

Full text

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

District of Maryland

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Florida Man Who Stole Over $170,000 in Covid-19
Unemployment Insurance Benefits Sentenced to Over Five
Years in Federal Prison
Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher sentenced Christopher Guy, age
30, of Tampa, Florida to 65 months in federal prison, followed by a three years of supervised release,
for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, and aggravated identity theft. Judge Gallagher
also ordered Guy to pay $176,970 in restitution.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron;
Acting Special Agent in Charge Troy Springer, of the Washington Regional Office, U.S. Department
of Labor Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG); Postal Inspector in Charge Greg L. Torbenson of
the U.S. Postal Inspection Service - Washington Division; and Chief Gregory Der of the Howard
County Police Department.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES ACT) was enacted on March 27,
2020, to assist individuals experiencing financial distress as a result of the Covid-19
pandemic. Among other things, the CARES Act established the Federal Pandemic Unemployment
Compensation program (FPUC), which provided federal funds to state agencies responsible for the
administration of unemployment benefits. The FPUC funds were provided to supplement regular
unemployment compensation payments to qualified applicants.

According to his plea agreement, from May 26, 2020, to August 5, 2020, Guy and his co-conspirators
submitted fraudulent applications, using the personal information of identity theft victims, claiming
unemployment benefits to which they were not entitled. The applications were submitted through
the internet to the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) and other state workforce
agencies. Based on the fraudulent applications, OSEC and other workforce agencies disbursed
benefits, including FPUC funds, through debit cards issued in the names of the identity theft
victims. The debit cards were mailed to addresses in Maryland and elsewhere, that were accessible
to Guy and other conspirators. Guy and his co-conspirators used the debit cards to withdraw money
and to conduct retail transactions.

For example, between July 27 and August 5, 2020, Guy conducted fraudulent transactions using
debit cards in the names of at least seven identity theft victims and funded with unemployment
compensation, including FPUC funds. On August 5, 2020, Guy used a debit card issued in the name
of an identity theft victim to purchase a laptop computer for $2,225.99, from a retail electronics store
in Elkridge, Maryland. Howard County Police officers, who had been called for a possible fraudulent
purchase, approached Guy in the parking lot. Upon questioning by the officers, Guy falsely stated
that he had lost the receipt and that he made the purchase using a card he produced bearing no
name. When officers advised that the number on the card did not match that listed on the receipt
reprinted by the store, Guy falsely claimed that he must have lost the card he used to purchase the
laptop. Guy was then arrested by officers, who located the card used to purchase the laptop in Guy’s
pocket.
A search of Guy’s vehicle by Howard County Police Department officers recovered $1,500 in cash,
four debit cards issued in names other than Guy’s, multiple electronic devices, and a room key from a
hotel in Chevy Chase, Maryland. A search warrant was obtained for Guy’s hotel room and officers
recovered 13 additional debit cards issued in various names, additional electronic devices, receipts
from retail purchases, and $11,619 in cash. DOL-OIG agents obtained surveillance images that
showed Guy using the debit cards funded with fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits at
ATMs within a mile of the hotel where he was staying. Twelve of the debit cards that were used in
these transactions were recovered from Guy or his hotel room on August 5, 2020.

A forensic examination of the electronic devices seized from Guy and his hotel room revealed
internet searches and browsing history relating to unemployment benefits; notes containing the
mailing addresses where the fraudulent debit cards were delivered by mail; and a listing of the last
four digits of each of the 18 debit cards recovered on August 5, 2020, each with a monetary balance
listed next to it.

Agents with DOL-OIG also learned that the 18 debit cards seized from Guy or his hotel room were
issued as a result of 16 fraudulent applications for unemployment benefits submitted in the names of
identity theft victims. The 16 fraudulent claims resulted in the disbursement of more than $176,970
in unemployment and FPUC funds, which losses were reasonably foreseeable to Guy.

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.

United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended the U.S. Department of Labor-OIG, U.S. Postal
Inspection Service, and the Howard County Police Department for their work in the
investigation. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean R. Delaney, who prosecuted the
federal case.

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

###
Topic(s):
Coronavirus
Component(s):
USAO - Maryland
Contact:
Alexis Abbott (301) 344-4342
Updated June 7, 2022

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File: 2022-06-17-Florida-Man-Who-Stole-Over-170-000-in-Covid-19-Unemployment-Insurance-Benefits-Sentenced-to-Over-Fi.pdf
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SHA-256: 1f92478686280846f4a82a65d06ce8e092e59ceb64e7cf81ea1bf94c1ea7198f
Our copy: 2022-06-17-Florida-Man-Who-Stole-Over-170-000-in-Covid-19-Unemployment-Insurance-Benefits-Sentenced-to-Over-Fi.pdf
Original: www.oig.dol.gov