2 Metro Detroiters Charged With Stealing $4M In Unemployment Benefits

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(CBS Detroit) -- Two people have been charged in connection with unemployment insurance benefit fraud schemes, taking over $4 million and attempting $13 million.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office Eastern District of Michigan, 39-year-old Tauheed Salik Wilder, of Detroit, and 30-year-old Shuqueni Renee Franklin, of Shelby Township, are charged in separate complaints with mail fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.

Wilder and Franklin were arrested Wednesday.

"Those who steal unemployment benefits steal from all taxpayers and jeopardize the safety net Congress enacted to protect employees who lost jobs during the pandemic," Acting U.S. Attorney Saima Mohsin says in a news release. "These arrests reflect our ongoing commitment to investigating these schemes and bringing the people who commit these crimes to justice."

Officials say they allegedly filed at least 470 claims for unemployment insurance benefits in at least five states, including Michigan. They also used stolen identities of other people as well as used their names and fake social security numbers.

Franklin and Wilder were both caught on surveillance at a bank using ATM cards to withdraw the money.

"The funds stolen by these defendants were intended to be used to ease the burden of unemployment suffered by residents of Michigan and other States," Mohsin says.