Danielle Tooley, Wire Fraud, New York 2020

A local woman has been sentenced to prison after committing wire fraud related to COVID-19 relief programs.

Rochester/Buffalo, N.Y. – Danielle Tooley, 37, of Batavia, NY, was sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to pay approximately $18,000 in restitution.

Between July 9 and December 4, 2020, Tooley applied for and collected unemployment benefits to which she was not entitled, benefits that were connected to federal COVID-19 relief programs.

Tooley was arrested on November 24, 2020, after a New York State Police trooper observed a crack pipe with white residue inside her vehicle during a traffic stop in Bergen, NY.

As they prepared for her vehicle to be towed, troopers recovered six New York State unemployment benefit cards issued to individuals other than Tooley, which they turned over to the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General.

The CARES Act, a federal law enacted on March 29, 2020, provides emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations – Labor Racketeering and Fraud, New York Region, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Jonathan Mellone, investigated the case.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s 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.

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