Husband, Wife Sentenced For Conspiracy, Stealing $1M In Pandemic Funds: Court

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — A former Amtrak employee from Riverside County was sentenced Thursday to just over two years in prison for conspiring with her husband to steal nearly $1 million in pandemic-related unemployment insurance benefits and for fraudulently obtaining more than $63,000 in sickness benefits while she worked for the railroad company.

Lizette Lathon, 48, was sentenced to 25 months in federal prison and held liable for $1.06 million in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

She pleaded guilty in Los Angeles in November 2022 to federal counts of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and wire fraud.

Her husband, Kenneth Lathon, 50, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy and identity theft counts, plus a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was sentenced last year to 4-1/2 years behind bars and held liable for almost $1 million in restitution to the California Employment Development Department.

Lizette Lathon operated at least three tax preparation businesses: Miracle Tax Service, located on Los Angeles' Miracle Mile; Hardcore Taxes; and Lathon LLC. The latter two companies were located in Moreno Valley.

The Moreno Valley couple admitted taking advantage of the expanded eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits made possible by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

As a result of the fraudulent claims she filed, Bank of America issued debit cards in the names of Lizette Lathon's former clients, but the cards were mailed to addresses she and her family controlled. She and her husband then used the debit cards to make cash withdrawals at ATMs and to make purchases.

During the conspiracy, which lasted from the spring of 2020 until March 2021, Lathon and her husband caused at least 44 fraudulent unemployment claims to be filed, resulting in losses to the EDD and the U.S. Treasury of about $998,630, prosecutors said.

Lizette Lathon, who was employed at Amtrak from 2000 to 2021, also schemed to defraud the Railroad Retirement Board out of sickness benefit payments by filing forged and false claims that stated she was being treated by a medical professional for pain and anxiety. Through this scheme, she fraudulently obtained about $63,047 in payments.

Kenneth Lathon admitted in his plea agreement to possessing a .22- caliber rifle and 12-gauge shotgun that bore no identifiable serial number despite his criminal history, which includes felony convictions in California state court for theft, cocaine possession and fraud