Sacramento County woman pleads guilty in EDD unemployment benefit scheme that netted $1M
A Citrus Heights woman pleaded guilty Thursday to mail fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with a scheme to collect unauthorized California unemployment benefits that prosecutors say netted more than $1 million.
Rochelle Pasley could face as many as 22 years in prison for the COVID-era fraud, one of many cases in which phony claims led the state Employment Development Department to wrongly pay out $20 billion to scammers taking advantage of programs meant to help independent contractors and other workers during the pandemic shutdown.
At a hearing Thursday in Sacramento federal court, Pasley changed her plea to guilty.
The case against Pasley and Deshawn Campbell, who prosecutors said worked with her in the alleged scheme, grew out of one of about 2,000 investigations begun in the wake of the waves of fraud that took place during the pandemic, which the state said has helped it recover about $6 billion of the stolen funds.
Prosecutors say she and Campbell found names and birth dates for people online, and used their identities without permission to apply for unemployment benefits. Many of the dozens of people whose identities they used did not live in California. The state sent about 50 debit cards loaded with unemployment benefits to addresses controlled by Campbell and Pasley, Acting U.S. Attorney Michelle Beckwith said in a news release.
In many of the claims, Pasley and Campbell said that the applicants had lost their jobs due to the pandemic.
Campbell has pleaded not guilty to charges of mail fraud, conspiracy and illegally accessing an electronic device in federal court in Sacramento.
Pasley’s guilty plea means that the September trial in the case will proceed only against Campbell.
Pasley is scheduled to be sentenced in June.
