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Stockton Man Sentenced for Unemployment Benefits Fraud
A federal judge in Sacramento has sentenced Sergio Doriante Sanchez Reyna, 25, of Stockton, to four years and three months in prison and ordered him to pay $436,091 in restitution for his role in a scheme to defraud the State of California by filing false unemployment insurance claims, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.
Reyna conspired with others in an unemployment insurance (UI) fraud scheme targeted at the California Employment Development Department (EDD). He facilitated the scheme by receiving EDD documents and obtaining debit cards issued in the names of identity theft victims to fraudulently obtain the UI benefits.
According to court documents, between December 12, 2014, and July 14, 2016, Reyna and his co-conspirators defrauded the state of California by filing at least 269 false claims seeking over $2.5 million in fraudulent benefits. EDD’s actual overpayment was approximately $887,199.
The conspirators took several steps to avoid detection. They used a Virtual Private Network designed to mask their IP addresses when making online filings and provided the name of a fake business as the claimant’s last employer to avoid notification by the victim’s true employer.
Reyna participated in the scheme by receiving and facilitating EDD documents at two Stockton addresses associated or controlled by him and using at least 18 EDD debit cards issued in the names of identity-theft victims to withdraw the fraudulently obtained benefits.
U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott said, ‘We will continue to work with our federal and state law enforcement partners to safeguard the UI system from those who exploit these benefit programs.’
Abel Salinas, Special Agent-in-Charge, Los Angeles Region, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, added, ‘This scheme exploited a fund designed to support people in California in a time of need, stealing money from a vital fund.’
This case is the product of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the California Employment Development Department, Investigations Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Schuller Hitchcock is prosecuting the case.
Reyna’s sentencing comes on the heels of similar cases involving co-conspirators. On August 16, 2018, Brittany Maunakea, 29 of Manteca, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Gregory Lee, 56, of Antioch, has pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced on December 13, 2018. The charges against Pamela Emanuel and Russell White III, 35, of Turlock, are pending; they are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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