LOS ANGELES (KABC) — 13 Los Angeles County staff have been charged for allegedly stealing greater than $437,000 in state unemployment advantages in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the district lawyer’s workplace introduced Wednesday.
The defendants allegedly filed unemployment claims whereas working for the county between 2020 and 2023, purporting to have earned lower than $600 per week throughout every two-week declare interval, regardless that all of them earned greater than that quantity.
They’re accused of stealing a mixed complete of $437,383.
Every defendant was charged with a felony depend of grand theft, and a lesser-included misdemeanor offense, the DA’s workplace stated in a information launch.
“It’s stunning that these county staff, who’re receiving their county test each single two weeks, are additionally telling EDD on the similar time that they are unemployed they usually obtain no cash,” L.A. County District Lawyer Nathan Hochman stated at a information convention.
Of these charged, 5 labored for the Division of Kids and Household Companies and one labored for the Sheriff’s Division.
The quantities allegedly stolen by the defendants vary from $9,300 to $57,900.
Investigators say one of many methods they came upon concerning the theft was via info from whistleblowers.
“These investigations are carried out to help the integrity of county authorities, to make sure that there may be accountability for misconduct,” L.A. County assistant auditor controller Robert Campbell instructed reporters.
Officers have truly recognized 172 incidents, however the issue they’re dealing with is the statute of limitations that solely permits them to return as much as 4 years.
Hochman says earlier DA George Gascón knew about a few of these instances however did not transfer ahead.
“The prior administration didn’t put a deal with white collar crime, didn’t put a deal with the sort of fraud or public integrity-type points,” Hochman stated. “I’ll.”
Metropolis Information Service contributed to this report.
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