A Lawrenceville, Georgia, man has pleaded guilty in Las Vegas to fraudulently obtaining more than $170,000 in unemployment benefits.
That man, Robert Devon Barber, 25, did this by submitting multiple unemployment claims in other people’s names and using benefits debit cards not belonging to him.
This, according to a press release that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada published last week.
“According to court documents and admissions made in court, on September 11, 2020, Barber and co-conspirator Keheir Jordan Parker (25, of Victorville, Calif.) were stopped in Las Vegas for a traffic violation. During the traffic stop, law enforcement officers recovered 12 California Employment Development Department (EDD) unemployment insurance benefits debit cards issued in other peoples’ names, along with ATM receipts showing that the debit cards had been used to make cash withdrawals totaling $7,400 in Nevada and California,” the press release said.
“At least $249,460 in unemployment benefits was approved for the claims associated with the 12 recovered EDD cards. Approximately, $170,715.78 was withdrawn from accounts associated with those 12 cards, including $148,400 in ATM cash withdrawals and $22,315.78 in purchases.”
Barber pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to effectuate illegal transactions with access devices. He faces a statutory maximum penalty of seven and a half years in prison and a $250,000 fine. U.S. District Judge Richard F. Boulware II scheduled sentencing for February 1, 2022, according to the press release.
Co-defendant Parker, meanwhile, pleaded guilty in June, and he is awaiting sentencing, the press release said.
Earlier this month, a Laurens County, Georgia man lied to obtain a COVID-19 disaster relief loan and used that money to buy a collectible Pokémon trading card.
Dublin resident Vinath Oudomsine, 31, pled guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of wire fraud.
Oudomsine’s plea subjects him to a maximum statutory penalty of up to 20 years in prison and substantial fines. This, followed by up to three years of supervised release after completion of any prison term.
There is no parole in the federal system.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Handful of Money” by Splintercell10. CC BY-SA 4.0.
