Two San Bernardino County residents were arrested last week in connection with a scheme that reportedly bilked the California Employment Development Department and the United States Treasury out of more than $2 million in COVID-19 pandemic relief funds, federal officials announced.
In a news release, prosecutors with the U.S. Department of Justice say that 43-year-old Rialto resident Lisa Puente and 53-year-old San Bernardino resident Arthur Marquez ran the operation from Feb. 2020 to Aug. 2023.
The pair reportedly filed more than 120 fraudulent applications for unemployment insurance benefits using identities stolen from inmates in California state prisons as well as stealing identities from out of state victims.
“The fraudulent applications falsely stated that they were individuals whose employment had been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which triggered eligibility for [unemployment insurance] benefits under federal law,” the release detailed.
Once Puent and Marquez got possession of the debit cards generated by the fraudulent claims, which were issued under the names of dozens of victims, they withdrew the benefits by making cash withdrawals at ATMs or used the cards to purchase items at local businesses.
In total, prosecutors said the pair filed 124 fraudulent claims and stole $2,136,768 in unemployment insurance benefits.
Puent and Marquez were arrested on Nov. 5 and were each charged with six counts of mail fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of use of unauthorized access devices.
Both individuals have been released on bond and are scheduled to appear in court for the start of the Dec. 30 trial.
“If convicted, the defendants would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each mail fraud count, up to 10 years in federal prison for the unauthorized access device count, and a mandatory two-year consecutive prison sentence for the aggravated identity theft count,” officials said.
