U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Two felons admit guilt in scheme to steal thousands in COVID-19 unemployment insurance funds (USAO SD-GA 03/18/2021) (2021-03-26)
Summary
A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Georgia, dated March 18, 2021, announcing that Tamesha Lashelle Brown, 41, of Dade City, Fla., and Malik Abdul McCaully, 43, of Tampa, pled guilty to Informations charging each with conspiring to commit offenses including mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, disaster relief fraud and access device fraud. According to court documents and testimony, Brown and McCaully, both convicted felons, used other individuals' personal identifying information to file fraudulent unemployment applications and obtained bank cards preloaded with more than $100,000. McCaully later sped from an attempted traffic stop on Interstate 95 and crashed in Pooler, Georgia, where officers recovered more than $20,000 in cash and dozens of prepaid unemployment debit cards in others' names.
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“U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Two felons admit guilt in scheme to steal thousands in COVID-19 unemployment insurance funds (USAO SD-GA 03/18/2021) (2021-03-26).”
Original at www.oig.dol.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/u-s-department-of-labor-oig-two-felons-admit-guilt-in-scheme-to-steal-d10ab3db1d/
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Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Southern District of Georgia
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, March 18, 2021
Two felons admit guilt in scheme to steal thousands in
COVID-19 unemployment insurance funds
Florida residents arrested after chase, crash in Georgia
SAVANNAH, GA: Two Florida residents have admitted they colluded in a scheme to steal
pandemic unemployment funds.
Tamesha Lashelle Brown, 41, of Dade City, Fla., and Malik Abdul McCaully, 43, of Tampa,
pled guilty in U.S. District Court to Informations charging each of them with conspiring to commit
various offenses, including mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, disaster relief fraud, and access device
fraud, said David H. Estes, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. The charge
carries a maximum statutory penalty of up to five years in federal prison, along with substantial
financial penalties and up to three years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal
system.
“COVID-19 relief funds approved by Congress were intended specifically to help unemployed citizens
struggling financially during the pandemic,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Estes. “These defendants
created a scheme to steal those funds for their own enrichment – but that scheme came to an end in
Georgia.”
As described in court documents and testimony, Brown and McCaully were both convicted felons
who obtained personal identifying information of other individuals, without those individuals’
knowledge or consent, and then used that information to file fraudulent applications for
unemployment assistance, including with the State of Pennsylvania. The two posed as the applicants
when communicating with banks distributing the payments. After fraudulently obtaining bank cards
preloaded with more than $100,000 in unemployment insurance funds, Brown and McCaully
travelled to various ATMs in Pennsylvania, withdrawing thousands of dollars.
The two came to the attention of law enforcement in the early morning hours of Oct. 3, 2020, when a
vehicle driven by McCaully sped from an attempted traffic stop by Jasper County, S.C., sheriff’s
deputies on Interstate 95. McCaully eventually crashed the vehicle in Pooler, Georgia, and he — and
his passenger, Brown — were taken into custody. Inside the vehicle, law enforcement recovered more
than $20,000 in cash, dozens of prepaid debit cards issued by states’ unemployment insurance funds
in the names of others, as well as several false identifications that the two had used.
“It is disheartening to see the willingness of some individuals to take advantage of people in need
during a national and world crisis,” said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “Their
personal greed affects every taxpaying citizen, in particular those who need help most. The FBI will
make every effort to make sure federal funds are used as intended.”
The FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, and the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, with
the assistance of the Pooler Police Department, Port Wentworth Police Department, and the Georgia
State Patrol investigated the case. It was prosecuted for the United States by the U.S. Attorney’s
Office for the Southern District of Georgia.
Please report COVID-19 fraud, hoarding or price-gouging to the National Center for Disaster Fraud’s
National Hotline at (866) 720-5721, or go to justice.gov/disastercomplaintform.
Topic(s): Contact:
Coronavirus Barry L. Paschal, Public Affairs Officer: 912-
Cyber Crime 652-4422
Disaster Fraud
Press Release Number:
Component(s): 49-21
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
USAO - Georgia, Southern
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