RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A woman was sentenced Wednesday for a conspiracy to defraud the employment agencies of at least five states of more than $3.5 million in pandemic-related unemployment insurance benefits after a months-long investigation.
Heather Huffman, 54, of Concord, California, was convicted of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Huffman “[led] and organized several others, including family members and close friends, in a conspiracy to defraud at least five state workforce agencies, including the Virginia Employment Commission, the Washington State Employment Security Department, and the California Employment Development Department, of more than $3.5 million in unemployment insurance benefits.”
At the time, Huffman was working as a federal employee as a registered nurse at the Department of Veterans Affairs Hunter Holmes McGuire Medical Center in Richmond. Huffman is alleged to have used her position “to steal funds meant for those struggling with employment security and the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said U.S. Attorney Jessica D. Aber.
“Huffman used her work computer to research available benefits, file and access claims, and falsify documents in furtherance of the conspiracy,” said Aber.
Aber also said that when Huffman was to attend her initial sentencing hearing, she “fled from the law.”
The Department of Justice said Huffman specifically targeted benefits that had been expanded to offset the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Huffman and others allegedly filed false applications under the names of identity theft victims, co-conspirators, and inmates in state and federal prisons.
Huffman and co-conspirators allegedly included false wage and employment histories, as well as false contact information.
The department said Huffman and co-conspirators obtained and shared others’ personal information among themselves, “created and maintained email accounts purportedly belonging to those individuals, and falsified and forged various documents including state and federal wage and tax forms to substantiate the information they had included in the false benefit applications.”
The conspirators then signed up for unemployment benefits using the personal information and had prepaid debit cards mailed to various addresses in Virginia, including Huffman’s home.
The department added that Huffman also opened a P.O. box under the name of a non-profit, “Heather’s Homeless Service,” that did not exist, to which she directed prepaid debit cards to be sent.
The department said Huffman and her co-conspirators submitted more than 220 applications under the names of more than 120 people to at least five states. The group sought to receive more than $3.5 million and obtained more than $2 million.
Huffman was originally scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 29 of last year, but she did not appear in court and provided no notice or explanation, according to the department. Before her disappearance, the department alleged that Huffman made withdrawals from her bank accounts, sold her vehicle and turned her phone off in order to flee prosecution and hide her whereabouts.
The department further said that Huffman obtained the personal identification information of a real person, assumed their identity and somehow procured counterfeit government identification and credit cards under the false identity.
After Huffman’s disappearance, the United States Marshals Service opened a fugitive investigation lasting multiple months, which found that Huffman was living under a false identity and working as a registered nurse in Kansas.
On March 4 of this year, about 95 days after Huffman evaded prosecution, she was apprehended by the Marshals Service at an Extended Stay hotel.
Huffman’s co-conspirators were also charged in relation to the scheme. One co-conspirator, 31-year-old Sheldon L. Huffman, of Richmond, was charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, as well as aggravated identity theft, and was sentenced to 60 months in prison.
In addition, 54-year-old Dorothea Rosado of Kennesaw, Georgia, was sentenced to 36 months in prison for the charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, as well as aggravated identity theft. Additionally, 35-year-old Anthowan Daniels, of Richmond, Virginia, was charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, as well as possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and was sentenced to 42 months in prison.
