Inmates claimed jobless benefits

More than $120,000 has been found in fraudulent unemployment claims so far, according to Butte County DA

OROVILLE » Amid investigations into fraudulent unemployment claims that were paid out to thousands of inmates statewide from the California Employment Development Department, several cases are linked to the Butte County Jail, with more likely forthcoming.

Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said in an interview with this newspaper his office is investigating cases involving current and former inmates of the Butte County Jail who allegedly conspired with individuals outside of the jail to falsely claim unemployment benefits using their own names.

The DA’s office is still investigating potential cases of fraud, which have yielded more than $120,000 all combined. Though what they’ve uncovered so far may only be “the tip of the iceberg,” Ramsey said.

“We have several subjects that are or have been in the jail that we believe have illegally gained unemployment insurance funds fraudulently,” Ramsey said.

The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the state sent approximately $400 million in unemployment benefits to more than 20,000 inmates between March and August, at a time during the COVID-19 pandemic when the EDD was inundated with claims to process. Those figures could grow as the criminal investigation continues.

The Butte County District Attorney’s Office is now part of a statewide task force investigating EDD fraud among inmates at prisons and jails. Ramsey said their own investigation

started before the task force when they began talking to other district attorneys who indicated they were seeing cases of fraud within their jails and prisons. The same pattern was then discovered at the Butte County Jail, though Ramsey declined to say specifically how his office gathered that information.

“We were getting information from the jail that indicated people were talking about scamming EDD, that this was an easy way to get quick and easy money,” Ramsey said.

In those instances, inmates would collaborate with people on the outside by using their identities to gain unemployment insurance money.

Ramsey said while some states have methods of cross- checking names that would safeguard against instances of fraud similar to this, California’s EDD system does not have that same ability.

“This is a problem of California’s Employment Development Department,” Ramsey said. “Many other states, when they are cutting a check, or like in California, putting money on a debit card, they first run it through a computer check program, or computer comparison program, to see if the person is either in jail or prison. California, even though it’s such a leader in the tech world, doesn’t have that protection. It goes out to anyone who claims that they’re unemployed.”