Four Charged in Unemployment Fraud

POSTED on July 22, 2010

NEW YORK - Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., announced the indictment of JOSE TEJADA, 57; DAVID LAURENTIN, 36; NEWTON CABREJA, 60; JUAN DE LA ROSA, 44; and PARKING AND SECURITY SERVICES, INC., for engaging in a wide-ranging identity theft scheme to obtain unemployment insurance benefits fraudulently from the State of New York. The District Attorney’s Office worked with state and federal Department of Labor officials to uncover and investigate the scheme.  The defendants have been charged in a 23-count indictment with Grand Larceny and Identity Theft.

The unemployment benefits stolen in this case totaled approximately $95,000 before the scheme was halted, and more than 100 stolen identities were discovered, according to documents filed in court.  Part of the stolen money came from the state and federal stimulus funds distributed to the states under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, intended to help revive the economy and to provide a cushion for the recently unemployed.  The District Attorney’s Office worked with investigators from the state and federal Departments of Labor, who were specially assigned to root out corruption and abuses relating to the stimulus funds. 

The federal government created a fund to stimulate the economy and to help those who have fallen on hard times as a result of the severe economic conditions,” said District Attorney Vance.  “These defendants created a mercenary scheme to take advantage of this program and defraud taxpayers.  This potentially large-scale fraud was quickly dismantled, and millions of dollars in losses averted, thanks to the work of the state and federal Departments of Labor, which worked closely with the Manhattan D.A.’s Office to halt these crimes.” 

According to documents filed in court, the defendant JOSE TEJADA owned the defendant corporation PARKING AND SECURITY SERVICES, INC. (“PASS”), which provided parking, security, and on-set management services to film, television, and advertisement production companies filming in Manhattan.  Defendants DAVID LAURENTIN, NEWTON CABREJA, and JUAN DE LA ROSA were employed as managers of PARKING AND SECURITY SERVICES, INC.  The defendants would direct current PASS employees to obtain Social Security numbers and other identification information from unsuspecting individuals and provide that information to the defendants.  The defendants then used the stolen information to apply for and obtain unemployment insurance benefits in the names of the unsuspecting individuals.  The defendants also used identification information kept on file from prior PASS employees to obtain unemployment insurance fraudulently in those employees’ names as well.  Additionally, TEJADA, LAURENTIN, CABREJA, and DE LA ROSA stole from New York State by individually applying for New York State Unemployment Insurance despite the fact that they were employed by PASS.

State Labor Commissioner Colleen C. Gardner said: “Unemployment Insurance is there for people who are out of work through no fault of their own.  Under no circumstance will it ever be tolerated as an ATM machine for lawbreakers who engage in identity theft.  At a time when more than 800,000 New Yorkers are unemployed, to think that four cheaters would come together to defraud the system in such a way is inexcusable.  I thank District Attorney Vance for prosecuting this case and hope that this case makes others think twice about cheating this vital safety net for the unemployed.  If you’re out there cheating the system, rest assured that you will be caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Marjorie Franzman, Special Agent-in-Charge for the New York Region of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, said: “Today’s arrests send a powerful message that the Office of Inspector General and our law enforcement partners are committed to protecting the Unemployment Insurance Program against fraud and abuse.”