Federal prosecutors have now filed charges against three more suspects in the massive fraud scheme that targeted California's unemployment agency.
Prosecutors say that the three women from Southern California used incarcerated people's names to defraud California's Employment Development Division out of nearly $1.25 million in coronavirus relief funds.
They are latest of more than 150 suspects nationwide to be charged in the scheme, which bilked the state out of hundreds of millions of dollars and exploited federal relief funds that were supposed to help people who lost their jobs because of the coronavirus.
Sequoia Edwards, 35, of Moreno Valley, was arrested Friday for allegedly filing 27 bogus claims last summer amounting to $455,000 in benefits.
Mireya Ramos, 42, of Colton, was arrested Thursday on charges she received $353,532 from 37 fraudulent claims. Prosecutors say she got information on inmates from her boyfriend, who is serving a life sentence in Calipatria State Prison.
Authorities also arrested Paris Thomas, 33, of San Bernardino, this week. She allegedly was paid out $440,000 from 49 bogus claims.
The arrests come as state lawmakers advanced a bill that would require state unemployment officials to crosscheck applications with inmate records, a practice that is already done in at least 35 other states.
State auditors say the EDD approved at least $810 million in claims that were filed using the names of about 45,000 inmates, who are not eligible for unemployment.
