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U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Texas Man Pleads Guilty To Unemployment Benefits Fraud Scheme (USAO D-NV 08/26/2021) (2021-08-30)

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Nevada, dated August 26, 2021, announcing that Paul Andrew Naeger, 38, of Woodlands, Texas, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to effect illegal transactions with access devices and one count of aggravated identity theft in a scheme against the California Employment Development Department. According to court documents, from around May 2020 Naeger and co-conspirators submitted fraudulent unemployment claims using other people's personal identifying information, with debit cards mailed to rental mailboxes in Santa Clarita, Los Angeles and Sherman Oaks. EDD approved at least $334,230 in benefits, and at least $164,137 was used, including to pay Naeger's bail on unrelated state charges in Houston. Co-defendant Brittany Danielle Griesel has pleaded guilty, and Kenneth Edward Greenland awaits trial.

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“U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Texas Man Pleads Guilty To Unemployment Benefits Fraud Scheme (USAO D-NV 08/26/2021) (2021-08-30).” Original at www.oig.dol.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/u-s-department-of-labor-oig-texas-man-pleads-guilty-to-unemployment-be-9b15beeb49/, SHA-256 43b10a75a21f04cb033a0e29c1b800d6766d897023c675b8a148504edc6dbb0a.

Full text

                                      Department of Justice
                                        U.S. Attorney’s Office
                                          District of Nevada

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                      Thursday, August 26, 2021

 Texas Man Pleads Guilty To Unemployment Benefits Fraud
                         Scheme
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – A Woodlands, Texas, man pleaded guilty today for his role in an
unemployment insurance benefits scheme to defraud the California Employment Development
Department (EDD).

According to court documents and admissions made in court, around May 2020, Paul Andrew
Naeger (38) and his co-conspirators began submitting fraudulent unemployment insurance claims
with the EDD, using other people’s personal identifying information without their consent. Some of
the EDD debit cards associated with those fraudulent unemployment claims were mailed to rental
mailboxes in Santa Clarita, Los Angeles, and Sherman Oaks. The debit cards were used for cash
withdrawals and to purchase goods and services. In total, EDD approved at least $334,230 in
benefits for the fraudulent claims. Naeger and his co-conspirators used at least $164,137 of the
unemployment insurance benefits, including to pay for Naeger’s bail after he was arrested and
detained on unrelated state charges in Houston, Texas.

Naeger pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to effect illegal transactions with access devices and
one count of aggravated identity theft. U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan scheduled sentencing for
December 1, 2021. Naeger faces statutory maximum penalties of seven and a half years in prison and
a $250,000 fine for conspiracy to effect illegal transactions with access devices, and two years in
prison for aggravated identity theft.

Co-defendant Brittany Danielle Griesel has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing. Co-defendant
Kenneth Edward Greenland has been indicted by a grand jury and is currently awaiting trial.

Acting U.S. Attorney Christopher Chiou for the District of Nevada and Special Agent in Charge
Quentin Heiden of the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG), Los
Angeles Region made the announcement.

This case was investigated by the DOL-OIG. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Fang is prosecuting the
case.

In May, 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 Hotline at 866-720-5721 or
via the NCDF web complaint form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-
complaint-form.

                                              ###



Topic(s):                                           Component(s):
Coronavirus                                         USAO - Nevada
Financial Fraud
Identity Theft

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