Tiffany Pacheco pleads guilty to submitting $240K in false COVID jobless claims while working for Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance – masslive.com
A former employee of the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance pleaded guilty on Monday to fraud and identity theft charges for falsely requesting more than $240,000 in claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance funds.
Tiffany Pacheco, 35, formerly of New Bedford, pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Pacheco was hired by the DUA in April of 2020 shortly after being released from a federal prison where she was convicted for aggravated identity theft. During her employment with the DUA, authorities accuse Pacheco of misusing her position to submit fraudulent PUA claim information on behalf of herself and her husband, Arthur Pacheco, who was incarcerated in Texas until Sept. 4, 2020, and therefore ineligible for PUA funds.
In June 2020, PUA claims submitted for Pacheco and her husband, said their 2019 income was $0 and that they had no dependents, according to authorities, who then accused Pacheco of accessing the PUA computer system and changing claim information for herself and her husband to increase the amount of money they would receive.
“For example, Tiffany Pacheco increased the amount of 2019 income for her and Arthur Pacheco to more than $240,000 and increased the number of their dependents to seven,” the press release said. Pacheco is further accused of using her access to the PUA system to verify the increased 2019 income on both claims without the required income verification documents.
In November 2020, Arthur Pacheco allegedly told the DUA and that he had been not incarcerated leading up to September 2020, and that he was only incarcerated for approximately one month, which was not true. Tiffany Pacheco is also accused of lying about the period of time that her husband had been incarcerated to the DUA.
Pacheco was fired from the DUA on Sept. 23, 2020.
Authorities also conducted a search of the Pacheco’s New Bedford apartment, according to the release, and found various tools of identity fraud including an ID laminator, 100 blank ID cards, 68 hologram overlays, 150 card lamination sheets and 649 sheets of blank checks.
Law enforcement also seized approximately $17,000 in cash and a notebook that they thought contained the personal identifying information of various individuals, according to the release. A driver’s license found during the search matched the name of a victim Pacheco used to submit another fraudulent PUA claim.
Pacheco’s sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 12, 2022. She was indicted in January 2021 along with her husband, Arthur Pacheco, who pleaded guilty in July 2021 and is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 18, 2021.