She used COVID funds on gambling, shopping, rent. Fresno woman sentenced for fraud

A Fresno woman was sentenced in federal court on Monday for making more than $300,000 in fraudulent claims for COVID-19 relief payments.

According to the Department of Justice, Cecilia Aquino received six years and three months in prison for “a crime spree where she submitted fraudulent unemployment insurance claims and loan applications in seven states using stolen identities.”

Over four months in 2020, the 32-year old-made EDD claims and applications using “various misrepresentations,” including that the pandemic had cost the named individuals money in their interior design business, and as a stripper.

Aquino used money received from the fraud for person expenditures, including gambling, rent and shopping, the Justice Department said.

The Clovis Police Department investigated the case, along with the FBI, the SBA Office of Inspector General and the Department of Labor as a California COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Strike Force operation.

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