Detroit man last of 15 defendants to be sentenced in COVID unemployment fraud scheme
(CBS DETROIT) - A Detroit man is the last of 15 defendants to be sentenced in connection to unemployment fraud schemes carried out during the coronavirus pandemic.
James Mayfield was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for his role in the scheme.
The U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Michigan, says court records show that between Feb. 1, 2020, and Jan. 26, 2021, Sharodney Harrison came up with schemes to file fake unemployment insurance claims using people's information without their consent.
According to court documents, from August to September 2020, five of the defendants traveled to California and used mailing addresses there, along with AirBnB addresses, to file false unemployment insurance claims.
Nearly 600 fraudulent claims in 19 states were filed throughout this scheme, resulting in a loss of $2,020,851 to insurance agencies. Officials say if all the claims had been filed, the loss would have been $6,920,388.
Authorities began investigating these defendants after more than 100 unemployment insurance claims were filed in Michigan from two IP addresses in Detroit.
In one case, nine people were charged together with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and/or aggravated identity theft.
They were sentenced as follows:
- Sharodney Harrison - Sentenced to 60 months in prison
- Seandrea Crawford - Sentenced to 30 months in prison
- Sharrell Harrison - Sentenced to 42 months in prison
- Sha-Ron Harrison - Sentenced to 46 months in prison
- Sharease Harrison - Sentenced to 26 months in prison
- Edward Taylor - Sentenced to 54 months in prison
- James Mayfield - Sentenced to 30 months in prison
- Frank Jennings - Sentenced to 24 months in prison
- Sharonda Griffin - Sentenced to 26 months in prison
In addition, six people were each charged separately with conspiracy to commit wire fraud or wire fraud.
With Mayfield's sentencing, all defendants connected to this scheme have been charged.
"Sharodney Harrison conspired with a dozen individuals, including James Mayfield, to defraud 19 state workforce agencies of more than $2 million in unemployment insurance (UI) benefits to which Harrison and his co-conspirators were not entitled. Harrison and his co-conspirators filed fraudulent UI claims in the names of identity theft victims, enriching themselves by defrauding a program that was intended to assist struggling American workers during an unprecedented global pandemic," said Special Agent-in-Charge Irene Lindow, Great Lakes Region, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General. "We and our law enforcement partners are committed to identifying and prosecuting the criminals who took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic by fraudulently obtaining pandemic UI benefits using stolen identities."