Nine phony California EDD cards, $58,000 in cash lead to plea deal, nine-year sentence

A 30-year-old Sacramento man found with nine unemployment insurance cards and $58,000 in cash during a search in December has been sentenced to more than nine years in prison for unemployment fraud, officials said Friday.

Walter Lee Dawson pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud and was sentenced to nine years and four months in state prison, Sacramento District Anne Marie Schubert’s office said.

Dawson was arrested Dec. 3 after a probation search turned up nine California Employment Development Department debit cards issued in different names, as well as 20 other EDD documents in various names, Schubert’s office said.

Dawson obtained more than $219,000 in EDD funds using the cards, officials said.

Dawson, who is currently in custody at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center, also was found with $58,000 in cash, a Glock-style handgun with no serial number, ammunition and nearly four pounds of marijuana, officials said.

He was ordered to pay $219,964 in restitution, and the cash and money left on the debit cards will be turned over to EDD as part of the restitution.

The case is part of an estimated $11 billion EDD fraud scam that has seen inmates nationwide and fraudsters worldwide take advantage of California’s unemployment insurance program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Schubert and other officials revealed the issue last November, and authorities have since cracked down on EDD fraud with a number of prosecutions of inmates, former EDD workers and others.