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California paid out unemployment benefits to at least 20,000 prisoners

Stevicus

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s system for paying unemployment benefits is so dysfunctional that the state approved more than $140 million for at least 20,000 prisoners, local and federal prosecutors said Tuesday, detailing a scheme that resulted in claims filed in the names of well-known convicted murderers like Scott Peterson and Cary Stayner.

From March to August, more than 35,000 inmates were named in claims filed with the California Employment Development Department, with more than 20,000 being paid, according to Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert. At least 158 claims were filed for 133 death-row inmates, resulting in more than $420,000 in benefits paid

“It involves rapists and child molesters, human traffickers and other violent criminals in our state prisons,” Schubert said.

The list includes Peterson, who was sentenced to death after being convicted of killing his pregnant wife following a trial that riveted the nation. The California Supreme Court recently overturned Peterson’s death sentence and has ordered a lower court to review his murder conviction.

Schubert confirmed there was a claim made in the name of Scott Peterson, but declined to provide further details.

Peterson’s attorney, Pat Harris, said while Peterson’s name surfaced during the investigation, there is no evidence Peterson received unemployment aid from the state.

“This investigation, when it’s completed, will show that he had not a thing to do with any kind of scheme to get fraudulent benefits,” Harris said.

California OK'd aid in name of Scott Peterson, other killers

In Kern County, home to five state prisons, one address was used to receive benefits for 16 inmates.

“In my nearly four decades as a prosecutor in this state, I have never seen fraud of this magnitude,” Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer said.

In some cases, inmates used their real names. In others, they used fake names and even fake Social Security numbers. In one instance, an inmate used the name: “poopy britches,” Schubert said.

“Quite frankly, the inmates are mocking us,” Schubert said.

I hope they didn't pay unemployment benefits to "poopy britches." That would take away from the legitimate claims made by people such as Charles U. Farley.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Shows what happens when you put the right people in charge.

California ought to be proud of itself.
 

Evangelicalhumanist

"Truth" isn't a thing...
Premium Member
That is a government with no concept of what it is to be a fiduciary.
I put most governments in that category -- especially when in emergency situations. Canada, in the first wave of the pandemic, paid emergency aid to around 900,000 people who didn't really qualify. That's about $7 billion we'll probably never recover, because the political capital spent recovering it would be to heavy for a party facing election.
 
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