MADERA COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) — A mother and her incarcerated daughter pleaded guilty to an unemployment insurance fraud scheme related to COVID-19 on Tuesday, according to the Department of Justice.
From June to December 2020, court documents reveal, 30-year-old Makiya Miles of Compton, an inmate at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, obtained names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of other inmates.
Miles then sent that information to her mother, 51-year-old April Weston of Santa Maria, who attorneys say filed claims for those female inmates’ identities, as well as Miles’ own identity. The underlying applications falsely claimed that Miles and the other inmates worked as child care providers, beauticians and other professions.
Court records state the applications claimed the inmates last worked within the previous few months, but had recently become unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and were currently available for work. The value of the fraudulent claims amounted to approximately $250,000.
Miles and Weston pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud for submitting fraudulent unemployment insurance claims to the California Employment Development Department in the names of inmates, according to attorneys.
The mother and daughter are scheduled to be sentenced on April 22, and could face a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, court officials said.