By DON THOMPSON | Related Press
SACRAMENTO — A California lady was charged with utilizing the names of convicted killers, together with Scott Peterson, to gather greater than $145,000 in fraudulent unemployment advantages — a small however headline-grabbing a part of greater than $20 billion stolen in comparable scams throughout the coronavirus pandemic, prosecutors stated Wednesday.
Brandy Iglesias made her preliminary court docket look Wednesday on 10 costs together with grand theft, forgery, id theft and making false statements, the California lawyer basic’s workplace introduced.
Iglesias didn’t enter a plea. She was ordered held on $20,000 bail pending an Oct. 26 court docket date.
An electronic mail searching for remark from her lawyer, Ariana Alejandre, wasn’t instantly returned.
One set of costs was for utilizing Peterson’s identify to say $18,562 from the state Employment Improvement Division in June 2020. Peterson was convicted of murdering his pregnant spouse and unborn little one and dumping their our bodies into San Francisco Bay on Christmas Eve 2002. However a choose is deciding whether or not Peterson should have a brand new trial due to juror misconduct.
Iglesias can be charged with submitting for unemployment within the identify of Cary Stayner in 2020, amassing $20,194. Stayner confessed to killing three girls who have been sightseeing in Yosemite Nationwide Park in 1999.
Peterson and Stayner have been amongst quite a few inmates who had claims filed of their names, prosecutors stated in 2020.
Iglesias was employed by a personal firm that contracted with San Quentin State Jail, the place Peterson and Stayner are housed, and should have used her job to get entry to prisoners’ private data, prosecutors stated.
Iglesias allegedly collected the fraudulent advantages from April 2020 to September 2021.
She was arrested Saturday in Contra Costa County by a crew of brokers from the California Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
“Don’t let the notorious names distract you from who this crime actually harm — probably the most weak in our society,” Legal professional Normal Rob Bonta stated in saying the costs.
Such thefts additionally hurt “households in want, dad and mom left with out jobs throughout a pandemic, and Californians struggling to get by,” he stated.
Iglesias additionally filed for jobless advantages beneath her personal identify, Bonta stated.
She had a earlier conviction for theft in Contra Costa County in 2005, his workplace stated.
California has one of many nation’s largest public profit techniques. Greater than 20 million individuals filed greater than 60 million claims for unemployment, incapacity insurance coverage and paid household depart over the previous decade.
On the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic — when many individuals have been unable to proceed working due to enterprise lockdowns, it was sending out greater than 600,000 software paperwork every day.
The California Employment Improvement Division has stated the state stopped $120 billion value of fraud makes an attempt in 2020 and 2021 however did not cease $20 billion in fraud.
That included $810 million paid within the names of roughly 45,000 jail inmates who weren’t eligible.