Last two defendants in $2 million Inland Empire pandemic fraud scheme plead guilty

Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)

Two people pleaded guilty on Monday, March 27, for their roles in an Inland Empire-based scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $2 million in pandemic-related unemployment insurance benefits.

Keith Burns, 39, of Houston, Texas, and Regjinay Tate, 29, of Corona, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud in relation to benefits connected to the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and one count of mail fraud in relation to benefits connected to a presidentially declared emergency, according to a news release from the U.S. Justice Department.

Six other defendants tied to the scheme pleaded guilty to the same conspiracy count and similar mail fraud charges in recent weeks, according to court documents.

From March 2020 through July 2021, lead defendant Robert Campbell Jr., 29, of Corona, orchestrated the scheme to use the benefits from the presidentially declared emergency to steal unemployment insurance benefits with his coconspirators by using names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of others.

The group would then file fraudulent applications with the California Employment Development Department — which administers the state’s unemployment insurance program — including claims made on behalf of ineligible claimants who did not reside in California and a prisoner in Texas and a homeless man, according to court documents.

The fraudulent applications stated the claimants had prior annual incomes of $42,000 regardless of their actual income and that they were self-employed individuals whose jobs were impacted when salons and barbershops closed during the pandemic.

The mailing addresses listed on the applications were chosen and controlled by Campbell and his accomplices.

Once the applications were approved, debit cards were mailed to those addresses.

Campbell and the others caused 174 fraudulent applications to be filed with state Employment Development Department, resulting in 125 fraudulent claims to be paid and resulting in total losses of approximately $2.1 million.

Campbell pleaded guilty on March 6 and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 5.

The other seven defendants are scheduled to be sentenced in the coming months, including sentencing hearings scheduled for June 26 for Burns and Tate.

Each of the eight defendants faces maximum sentences of 30 years in federal prison for the conspiracy count and 30 years in federal prison for the mail fraud charges.