Man indicted over stolen pandemic aid

A Rhode Island man who federal prosecutors say used stolen identities to obtain more than $450,000 in pandemic-related unemployment assistance was arrested in Michigan, authorities said.

Dquintz Alexander, 34, of Cranston, R.I., was indicted in federal court in Boston on five counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, according to the U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts.

The U.S. Labor Department says thousands of people have become victims of unemployment-related identity fraud. Last year, the department made fraud detection a priority, dedicating $100 million to combat the problem. In August, it updated the unemployment insurance system to help counter fraudulent claims.

According to prosecutors, Alexander and another man, Norman Higgs, made 85 fraudulent claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance between April and June 2020, using the personal information of at least five other people. They hid their own identities by using a series of virtual private networks, overseas email accounts and voice-over-internet phone numbers, prosecutors said.

The victims were from Arizona, Massachusetts, Ohio, Michigan and Kansas, authorities said.

Higgs has pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced in December.

Alexander, who if convicted faces up to 20 years in prison on each of the six counts, was released after an initial appearance in federal court in Michigan on Thursday and will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.