LOS ANGELES — Phyllis Stitt, a former employee of the California Employment Development Department (EDD) and her ex-boyfriend, Kenneth Riley, were sentenced to federal prison for defrauding the state’s unemployment insurance program out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 pandemic-related jobless benefits. Stitt was sentenced to 20 months in prison and ordered to pay $768,958 in restitution. Similarly, Riley received a 20 month sentence and an order to pay back $611,458.

Stitt, who worked as an EDD employment program representative at the start of the pandemic, pleaded guilty to one federal count of conspiracy to commit mail and bank fraud. Using her position, she collected personal information of victims and used it to file at least 29 fraudulent claims causing the EDD a loss of $768,958. Her fraudulent activities included backdating the fraudulent requests to maximize the claims and falsely certifying the victims’ unemployment status as pandemic-related.

In their scheme, Stitt and Riley used addresses that Riley had access to, to receive debit cards and create accounts tied to the fraudulent claims. These were then used to make cash withdrawals at ATMs, transfers, and retail purchases. Many of the victims were ineligible for the benefits either because they were still employed, not unemployed due to the pandemic, or were deceased.

For related concerns or to report suspected fraud cases regarding EDD, interested parties may find more information on how to get ahold of edd customer service on the website eddcaller.com. This platform provides a comprehensive guide and relevant contact information to effectively get in touch with the EDD.