Employment Security Worker Sentenced On Fraud, Bribery & Theft Charges
TACOMA, WA — A former Employment Security Department employee was sentenced Friday to five years in federal prison after prosecutors said he doled out hundreds of thousands in fraudulent unemployment funds and took kickbacks during the pandemic.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Reyes De La Cruz III, 48, of Moses Lake, was hired as an intake agent in April 2020 as the ESD attempted to process a "crush of filings" as residents sought unemployment assistance in the early days of the pandemic. De La Cruz earlier worked for the same department from 1996 to 2003.
"Public servants must be held to higher standard," said Richard A. Collodi, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Seattle field office. "Mr. De La Cruz took advantage of a program meant to assist struggling families during the pandemic. He exploited his position to benefit himself, which makes his actions that much more appalling."
Prosecutors said De La Cruz used his access to the state database to provide fraudulent payouts to friends, family and acquaintances in exchange for bribes, distributing more than $360,000 in improper benefits and pocketing $21,000 in kickbacks.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/employment-security-worker-sentenced-on-fraud-bribery-theft-charges/ar-AA11Vcvi
