Eight Defendants Plead Guilty in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Benefit Scheme

ABINGDON, Va. - Eight defendants indicted in May 2024 for conspiring to defraud the United States, commit program fraud, and commit mail fraud in connection to a scheme involving the filing of fraudulent claims for pandemic unemployment benefits entered guilty pleas recently.

Brian Edward Addair, Clinton Michael Altizer, Cara Camille Bailey, Jeramy Blake Farmer, Joseph Frederick Hass, Daniel Wayne Horton, Jessica Dawn Lester, and Terrance Brooks Vilacha entered guilty pleas to one count of conspiring to defraud the United States in connection with emergency benefits.

According to court documents, between March 2020 and September 2021, these defendants conspired to file fraudulent claims and recertifications for pandemic unemployment benefits via the Virginia Employment Commission website while they were incarcerated in jails throughout the Western District of Virginia and, due to their incarceration status, were ineligible for pandemic unemployment benefits. In total, among the 17 defendants charged in this conspiracy, the Virginia Employment Commission paid out $341,205 in pandemic relief benefits to ineligible persons.

Addair, Altizer, Bailey, Farmer, Hass, Horton, Lester, and Vilacha are scheduled for sentencing on January 9, 2025, and face up to five years in federal prison. The remaining defendants are scheduled for guilty plea hearings or trial in fall 2024.

United States Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh, Brian D. Miller, Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery, and Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares made the announcement.

As part of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) Task Force, this investigation was conducted by the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery. The PRAC's 20 member Inspectors General identify major risks that cross program and agency boundaries to detect fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement in the more than $5 trillion in COVID-19 spending.

Agencies that assisted with this investigation included the Dickenson County Sheriff's Office, the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail Authority, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Labor, and the Virginia Employment Commission.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney M. Suzanne Kerney-Quillen, a Senior Assistant Attorney General with the Virginia Attorney General's Major Crimes and Emerging Threats Section, and Assistant United States Attorney Danielle Stone are prosecuting the case for the United States.