Man Charged with Nearly $600,000 in Wire and Mail Fraud against EDD; Former Amtrak Employee Sentenced to Over 2 Years in Prison for Crimes, Including Nearly $1 Million COVID Jobless Benefits Fraud, and other C-Virus related stories

Man charged with nearly $600,000 in wire and mail fraud against EDD

Sacramento U.S. Attorney charges man with nearly $600,000 in EDD fraud

The Sacramento U.S. Attorney's Office has charged a man with wire and mail fraud in another example of the fraud that hit California's Employment Development Department during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to court documents obtained by KCRA 3 Investigates, Roosevelt Gulley, along with others who were not named in the documents, is alleged to have filed at least 79 fraudulent unemployment claims with the EDD. That fraud took place between July and September of 2020, using the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, or PUA. The PUA was designed to help self-employed or "gig" workers to get paid when the entire economy had been shut down in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Gulley allegedly used the identities of multiple people, some of whom may not even live in California, without their knowledge in order to file for PUA. He would list someone as self-employed, as say a barber/stylist or the like, and then back-time payments to get more money.

If convicted, Gulley faces up to 20 years in prison and fines of $250,000, along with restitution of the money he did receive. The EDD paid out $575,000 to Gulley, through his applications. If all were approved, it would have added up to nearly $1.5 million. --->READ MORE HERE

Former Amtrak Employee Sentenced to Over 2 Years in Prison for Crimes, Including Nearly $1 Million COVID Jobless Benefits Fraud:

A former Amtrak employee was sentenced on Thursday, July 17, 2025, to 25 US DOJmonths in federal prison for conspiring with her husband to steal nearly $1 million in COVID-19 pandemic-related unemployment insurance (UI) benefits and for fraudulently obtaining more than $63,000 in sickness benefits while she worked at the passenger railroad company.

Lizette Berrios Lathon, 48, of Moreno Valley, was sentenced by United States District Judge Fernando M. Olguin, who also ordered her to pay $1,061,667 in restitution.

In November 2022, Lizette Lathon pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, and one count of wire fraud.

Previously, in July 2024, Judge Olguin sentenced Lathon’s husband, Kenneth Andrew Lathon, 50, also of Moreno Valley, to 54 months in federal prison and ordered him to pay $998,630 in restitution.

Kenneth Lathon pleaded guilty in November 2022 to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

From 2014 until at least September 2022, Lizette Lathon, in addition to her one-time duties as a service attendant for Amtrak, operated at least three tax preparation businesses: Miracle Tax Service, which was located on Los Angeles’ Miracle Mile; Hardcore Corp., which did business as “Hardcore Taxes”; and Lathon LLC, which did business as “LL Taxes.” The latter two companies were in Moreno Valley. --->READ MORE HERE

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