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Breon Dante Mims, Unemployment Insurance Benefits Fraud, Nevada 2023
Breon Dante Mims, a 32-year-old California resident, pleaded guilty to using multiple California Employment Development Department (EDD) unemployment insurance benefits debit cards in other people’s names without their authorization in Nevada.
According to court documents and admissions made in court by Mims, on September 20, 2020, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers stopped Mims walking along Las Vegas Boulevard after he was observed smoking a marijuana blunt in public. During the stop, officers obtained Mims’ consent to search his backpack, and they found $10,080 in cash and 10 EDD debit cards none of which were in Mims’ name.
Mims admitted that he possessed and used these EDD debit cards without authorization; and that he submitted the unemployment claims associated with the EDD debit cards without authorization. At least $261,600 in benefits were approved for the unemployment claims associated with the cards, and Mims withdrew at least $77,000 from various ATMs in Nevada and California using these fraudulently obtained EDD debit cards.
United States Attorney Jason M. Frierson for the District of Nevada and Special Agent in Charge Quentin Heiden of the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG), Western Region made the announcement.
The DOL-OIG investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Jim Fang is prosecuting the case.
Mims faces a statutory maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 25, 2023, before United States District Judge Gloria M. Navarro.
In related news, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force in May 2021 to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. For more information on the government’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.
If you have information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19, you can report it by calling the National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF web complaint form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
Key Facts
- State: Nevada
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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