California prison inmate sentenced in $25 million EDD fraud case
FRESNO -- A former gang member and prison inmate was sentenced Monday to more than five years in federal prison for his part in a scheme to defraud California's Employment Development Department (EDD) unemployment insurance system with fake pandemic claims totaling up to $25 million.
Dayrol Richmond was serving 19 years for robbery at Kern Valley State Prison in Delano, at the southern end of the state's Central Valley. According to a press statement from U.S. Attorney for Eastern District of California Phillip Talbert, Richmond is the first of the eight defendants charged in the case to plead guilty and be sentenced.
The 31-year-old Richmond obtained the unauthorized personal identifying information of fellow inmates and other individuals and forwarded that information to co-conspirators inside and outside of prison, according to court documents.
Richmond also "caused the applications for the fraudulent claims to contain numerous misrepresentations," according to the press statement. "The misrepresentations included that the other individuals became unemployed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, were available to work, and had access to the mailing addresses listed in the applications."
Of the $25 million in fraudulent EDD claims, $5.5 million were actually paid out with the money used to buy vehicles, jewelry and other items, prosecutors said. At his sentencing Monday, Richmond was found to have been responsible for $1.4 million in claims and $382,000 in disbursements. Richmond also was not aware of the full scope of the scheme, according to the statement.
Eight others who were charged along with Richmond are currently pending trial. They were identified as Telvin Breaux, 29, an inmate at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi; Holly White, 30, of Los Angeles; Cecelia Allen, 33, of Downey; Fantasia Brown, 33, of Los Angeles; Tonisha Brown, 28, of Los Angeles; Fantesia Davis, 32, of Victorville; and Shanice White, 28, of Hawthorne.
The state EDD last year announced it paid out at least $20 billion worth of fraudulent claims during the COVID-19 pandemic.
