Trio used Sacramento-area banks in $1 million unemployment card scam, prosecutors say
A Sacramento County man was among three people indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly using other people’s debit cards to take nearly $1 million in unemployment benefits, court documents showed.
Carlos E. Sanchez Jr. and Nevada resident Kimberly Ann Wallace were arrested on Oct. 17 and charged with conspiracy and illegally accessing debit cards. Ricky Lee Ware, 41, also of Nevada, was named in the alleged conspiracy but has not yet been arrested, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Phil Talbert said Wednesday.
The arrests capped the latest in a string of investigations spurred by rampant unemployment fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic that has led to numerous cases and embarrassed the California Employment Development Department, leading it to be named a “high-risk” agency by state auditors.
California lost an estimated $20 billion in pandemic-era unemployment aid to fraudsters, which experts have said would be difficult to recover. Most of that money came from the now-ended federally-funded Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, created just after the pandemic triggered an economic shutdown in March 2020.
On Thursday, EDD spokesman Gareth Lacy told The Sacramento Bee that the department had recovered about $6 billion in fraudulently obtained benefits, and was still working to take back additional funds.
The Oct. 10 indictment accuses the trio of illegally using debit cards issued by the EDD to obtain funds meant for people who were unemployed during the COVID-19 pandemic. It accuses them of participating in the alleged scheme from July 2020 through about January 2021.
However, the indictment does not say how the three allegedly obtained the cards, and does not accuse them of defrauding the state.
Sanchez, 44, was charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of conducting a fraudulent transaction at a bank in Sacramento and one count of being a felon illegally in possession of a gun. Wallace and Wares were each accused of two counts of fraudulent transactions at banks in Sacramento and West Sacramento.
Wallace, 28, was arrested Oct. 17 in Las Vegas and released on bond. Sanchez was released on his own recognizance, court records show.
Altogether, the trio are accused of illegally obtaining at least $900,000 from the cards, the indictment says.
This story was originally published October 23, 2024 at 12:41 PM.
