Man sentenced to prison in jobless benefits scheme
A Las Vegas man was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday for his role in a sweeping scheme to steal $4.4 million in state and federal unemployment benefits.
Efrain Garcia, 41, the first of four men who pleaded guilty in the scam, was sentenced this week before U.S. District Judge James Mahan.
On Tuesday, Mahan said, "Every citizen in Nevada" was victimized in the "massive" scheme.
Illegal immigrants were recruited to apply for phony unemployment benefits in the scheme, which took place from November 2007 to September 2009, federal prosecutors have alleged in court documents.
Mahan ordered Garcia, who pleaded guilty in November to money laundering and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, to share in the payment of $4.4 million in restitution with the other three defendants, Francisco Garcia, 41; Eloy Garcia, 33; and Nabor Garcia, 32.
Prosecutors think all four defendants are related.
Francisco Garcia, the acknowledged ringleader, is to go before Mahan on Friday.
On Tuesday, Efrain Garcia apologized to Mahan and accepted responsibility for his role.
"If I could go back in time, I would not have done these things," he said through a Spanish-speaking interpreter. "I would like to say how sorry I am and how embarrassed I am to be in front of you."
Several of Garcia's family members were in the courtroom weeping as Mahan handed down the sentence.
"It seemed like an easy way to make money, but you're paying the price for it now, and so is your family," Mahan told Garcia.
Mahan gave Garcia until April 30 to surrender to federal authorities.
In arguing for the two-year sentence, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Dickinson said the scheme was a "perfect storm" at a time when Nevada's unemployment rate was reaching record highs.
Steve Zuelke, who runs the fraud unit for the Nevada Employment Security Division, told Mahan that the four defendants disrupted the entire unemployment benefits program.
He said the scheme delayed payments to people who "desperately" needed help in the sagging economy.
The Employment Security Division was among several agencies, including IRS Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Department of Labor's inspector general, that participated in the investigation, which involved the use of undercover agents.
The defendants submitted at least 591 fraudulent unemployment claims, causing the state to pay the $4.4 million in state and federal benefits, prosecutors alleged.
The illegal immigrants were recruited to apply for the unemployment benefits knowing they were not entitled to the benefits because they were illegally in the United States.
The state unknowingly mailed the benefits to addresses controlled by the defendants.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.
