Corona man sentenced for scamming COVID unemployment benefits system
A Corona man was sentenced to six years in prison for running a COVID unemployment benefits scam that netted him over $2.1 million.
According to the Department of Justice, 30-year-old Robert Campbell Jr. and other co-conspirators filed fraudulent applications for apparent salon and barbershop workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic.
He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with a presidential declared emergency and one count of mail fraud in connection with benefits connected to a presidential declared emergency earlier this year.
Several months later, a federal judge sentenced Campbell, the lead defendant in this case, to 68 months in federal prison and ordered him to pay back the more than $2.1 million he illegally obtained.
Prosecutors claimed that Campbell and his co-conspirators carried out the scam from the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 to July 2021. At that time, the group used names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers to file fraudulent unemployment claims with the California Employment Development Department. According to the Department of Justice, many of the applications were filed in the names of people who did not live in California or were in prison.
The scheme filed 174 fraudulent applications with the EDD, 125 of which were approved, according to prosecutors.
Authorities arrested Campbell in July 2022 but he has released on a $100,000 bond while he waited for his case to be completed.