The new arrests made this morning by federal authorities for fraud in the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program include a scheme that involved about 12 people and resulted in the theft of $ 419,580. as a whole, Federal Prosecutor Stephen Muldrow reported today, Tuesday.
According to Muldrow, the scheme consisted of drafting false information to the Department of Labor to receive PUA benefits.
Watch the press conference:
[AHORA] The Federal Prosecutor’s Office provides details on federal arrests for fraud in the PUA.
Posted by Metro Puerto Rico on Tuesday, April 13, 2021
“Defendants engaged in misleading conduct designed to fraudulently occupy several Department of Labor checks using false Social Security numbers,” Muldrow said at a news conference from Hato Rei.
“The defendants received unemployment benefits by mail, in the form of checks, knowing that they were not allowed to receive them,” he added.
This morning’s arrest was made against nine people. Of those, eight agreed with Millisen M. Martinez Medina, accused of aggravated identity theft with other people’s Social Security if her authorization during the scheme.
According to the investigation launched by the federal authorities, Martínez Medina was the person responsible for leading the scheme alongside the nine arrested this morning.
Martínez Medina faces a mandatory two-year prison sentence on charges of aggravated identity theft, apart from twenty years for postal fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud, ten years for theft of government money, five years for misuse of the number of Social Security and three years of supervised release if found guilty.
The rest of the people arrested this morning were identified as Luis Cruz Reis, Partner of Martinez Medina, who earned $ 64,992; Jonathan Rivera Gutiérrez, Which earned $ 44,148; Jennifer Hernández Romero, Who appropriated $ 36,222; Mary L. Benítez Ortiz, With $ 32,628; Daniel Colom Díaz, With $ 68,250; Gabriel A. Robles Guzmán, With $ 33,030; Denisse Sánchez Ortiz, With & $ 23,172; Luis A. Flors Díaz, Which earned $ 20,910.
On the other hand, three more people are accused of being part of the scheme, although they are not related to the group arrested today.
Two of them are José Daniel Li Hardy Figueroa, A postal employee, i Cristoffer Pérez Vélez. Both are charged with mail fraud conspiracy and owe $ 11,388 to the government.
Finally, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office charged Felix R. Santana Cross for fraud. This one acted alone and appropriated $ 29,970.