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U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Former Postal Employee Sentenced To 13 Months In Prison For Fraud In Connection With Unemployment Insurance Benefits (USAO D-NJ 09/22/2022) (2022-09-26)

Summary

Press release 22-348 from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey, dated September 22, 2022, announcing that former USPS employee Ross Clayton of Irvington, New Jersey, was sentenced to 13 months in prison for conspiring to fraudulently obtain unemployment insurance benefits. Clayton pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Julien X. Neals to an information charging conspiring to commit wire fraud, and Judge Neals imposed the sentence on Sept. 21, 2022. According to the release, Clayton took unemployment insurance benefits-related mail, including debit cards, from a USPS location in New Jersey and used it to obtain benefits to which he was not entitled. Judge Neals also imposed two years of supervised release, restitution of $53,321.05 and forfeiture of $28,397.49.

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“U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Former Postal Employee Sentenced To 13 Months In Prison For Fraud In Connection With Unemployment Insurance Benefits (USAO D-NJ 09/22/2022) (2022-09-26).” Original at www.oig.dol.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/u-s-department-of-labor-oig-former-postal-employee-sentenced-to-13-mon-bafbe92075/, SHA-256 62c843b73c4ac9b3cee209c905a0334f9927189b487c6f7027f461c39c468c4c.

Full text

                                      Department of Justice

                                        U.S. Attorney’s Office

                                        District of New Jersey

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                 Thursday, September 22, 2022



 Former Postal Employee Sentenced To 13 Months In Prison
  For Fraud In Connection With Unemployment Insurance
                         Benefits
NEWARK, N.J. – A former U.S. Postal Service USPS employee was sentenced to 13 months in prison
for conspiring to fraudulently obtain unemployment insurance benefits, U.S. Attorney Philip R.
Sellinger announced.

Ross Clayton, 31, of Irvington, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S.
District Judge Julien X. Neals to an information charging him with conspiring to commit wire fraud.
Judge Neals imposed the sentence on Sept. 21, 2022, in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court:

On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was signed
into law. The CARES Act created a new temporary federal unemployment insurance program called
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), which provided unemployment insurance benefits for
individuals who were not eligible for other types of unemployment (the self-employed, independent
contractors, gig economy workers). The CARES Act also created a new temporary federal program
called Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (FPUC) that provided an additional $600
weekly benefit to those eligible for PUA and regular unemployment insurance benefits.

Clayton was a USPS employee and took unemployment insurance benefits-related mail, including
debit cards, from a USPS location in New Jersey. He used that mail to obtain unemployment
insurance benefits to which he was not entitled.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Neals sentenced Clayton to two years of supervised release and
ordered him to pay restitution in the amount of $53,321.05 and forfeiture in the amount of
$28,397.49.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector
General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Mellone in Manhattan; and postal
inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark, under the direction of Acting Inspector in
Charge Raimundo Marrero, Philadelphia Division; and special agents with the U.S. Postal Service –
Office of Inspector General, Northeast Area Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in
Charge Matthew Modafferi, with the investigation leading to the sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Kogan of the U.S. Attorney’s
Office Cybercrime Unit in Newark.

Defense counsel: Robert M. Perry Esq., Mount Holly, New Jersey
Topic(s):
Coronavirus
Component(s):
USAO - New Jersey
Press Release Number:
22-348
                        Updated September 22, 2022

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www.oig.dol.gov
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