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U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Pennsylvania Inmate Sentenced To 11 Months In Prison For Pandemic Unemployment Fraud (USAO MD-PA 12/16/2022) (2022-12-20)

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Pennsylvania, dated December 16, 2022, announcing that Jeovanny Shultz, age 28, an inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Mercer, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Christopher C. Conner to 11 months in prison for conspiring to steal pandemic funds. The release states that Shultz pleaded guilty to conspiring with five others to file false unemployment claims using personal identification information gathered from inmates, and arranged payment of approximately $11,000 in benefits. It reports that Andrew Marszalek and Alexis Figueroa were each sentenced to 18 months, Nicholas Baggio to one year and a day, Oscar Martinez is awaiting sentencing and Joseph Powles is wanted as a fugitive.

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“U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Pennsylvania Inmate Sentenced To 11 Months In Prison For Pandemic Unemployment Fraud (USAO MD-PA 12/16/2022) (2022-12-20).” Original at www.oig.dol.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/u-s-department-of-labor-oig-pennsylvania-inmate-sentenced-to-11-months-2104082eb7/, SHA-256 1f38c4595470ae96bebf5f77414239d525346f8495a66396438faf9e5fad83f1.

Full text

                                      Department of Justice
                                         U.S. Attorney’s Office
                                   Middle District of Pennsylvania


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                       Friday, December 16, 2022

 Pennsylvania Inmate Sentenced To 11 Months In Prison For
             Pandemic Unemployment Fraud
HARRISBURG - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
announced that Jeovanny Shultz, age 28, an inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Mercer,
was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Christopher C. Conner to 11 months in prison
for conspiring to steal pandemic funds.

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Shultz pleaded guilty to conspiring with five
others to file false claims for unemployment assistance during the pandemic. These defendants
gathered personal identification information from inmates housed within the Pennsylvania
Department of Corrections system and filed unemployment claims. The payments were mailed to
particular addresses in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, where the funds were accessed. Shultz
arranged for the payment of approximately $11,000 in benefits which he was not entitled to obtain.

Andrew Marszalek, age 24, of New Cumberland, entered a guilty plea to the fraud conspiracy and
was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Nicholas Baggio, age 32, an inmate at the State Correctional
Institution at Mahanoy, entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and was sentenced
to one year and a day in prison. Alexis Figueroa, age 32, of Philadelphia, entered a guilty plea to the
fraud conspiracy and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Oscar Martinez, age 30, an inmate at
State Correctional Institution at Rockview, pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing. Joseph
Powles, age 33, of Philadelphia, is wanted as a fugitive.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the United States Department of
Labor Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Consiglio 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.

All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.

                                                 ###
Topic(s):     Component(s):
Coronavirus   USAO - Pennsylvania, Middle

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