BOSTON – A brazen scheme to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic for personal gain has landed a 20-year-old Leicester woman in federal court. Destinee Snay pleaded guilty on May 16, 2022, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, admitting her role in a multi-state unemployment benefits scam.
According to court documents, Snay and her co-defendant, William Cordor, systematically filed false claims for unemployment assistance across multiple states beginning around June 2020. They didn’t bother with honest work; instead, they harvested stolen identities from Facebook and even from fellow inmates at the Worcester County House of Correction. These stolen lives were then used to apply for benefits the pair weren’t entitled to.
The operation was surprisingly sophisticated for its criminal simplicity. Snay created a network of phony email accounts on Gmail, AOL, and Yahoo to mask the fraudulent claims. She personally filed approximately 20 false claims, not just in Massachusetts, but in other states as well. The ill-gotten gains weren’t stashed away, either. Snay and Cordor used the stolen funds to finance a lifestyle most can only dream of: luxury hotels, rental cars, a trip to Miami, and a shopping spree at Saks Fifth Avenue.
Cordor, who also faces charges, already pleaded guilty on November 16, 2021, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, four counts of wire fraud, and four counts of aggravated identity theft. He’s set to be sentenced on June 16, 2022. Snay, meanwhile, faces up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 when Judge Timothy S. Hillman hands down her sentence on October 12, 2022.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office, led by Rachael S. Rollins, worked alongside the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Secret Service, Boston Field Office, spearheaded by Special Agent in Charge Mark Comorosky, to unravel the scheme. Valuable assistance was also provided by the Leicester and Marlboro Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Danial E. Bennet and John T. Mulcahy are prosecuting the case.
This case is part of a broader effort by the Department of Justice’s COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force, established in May 2021, to combat pandemic-related fraud. Anyone with information about COVID-19 fraud is urged to report it to the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or through their web complaint form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form. The pandemic may be waning, but the pursuit of those who exploited it is far from over.
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Key Facts
- Agency: U.S. Secret Service
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Press Release
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