A California woman, who is already in prison for helping with the murder of her mother, has been charged with stealing millions in unemployment insurance benefits.
A woman from Corona, California is one of the 13 people charged for plotting to use stolen identities to defraud California out of $2 million, CBS News reports. They have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. Several of the defendants also received 31 counts of bank fraud and seven counts of aggravated identity theft counts.
One of the individuals who took part in the scheme was 37-year-old Natalie Le Demola, who was already in the slammer for life for murdering her own mother back in 2001. She was convicted in 2005. Others involved in the pandemic relief fund plot were Khanshanda King, 31; Cleshay Johnson II, 28; Felicite Aleisha King, 41; Shafequah Lynete Mitchell, 33 Loresha Shamone Davis, 31, among others.
Most of the money the group of defendants ripped off from the state came from COVID-19 unemployment funds.
CBS News reports the defendants committed 150 “over acts.” The news outlet adds that the stolen identities were provided to them by a prison official working for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The group used the names, birth dates, and social security numbers of people who qualified for unemployment benefits.
And more have been arrested.
