I.E. Man Who Stole Unemployment Benefits Money Sentenced

RIVERSIDE -- A 29-year-old man who committed identity theft to fraudulently collect tens of thousands of dollars in unemployment benefits was sentenced today to 32 months of mandatory supervision.

Thomas Frank Ledbetter of Fontana pleaded guilty last month to two counts each of fraud and identity theft and one count of grand theft, under a plea agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. In exchange for his admissions, prosecutors dropped two dozen related counts.

Superior Court Judge David Gunn certified the terms of the plea deal and imposed the sentence stipulated by the prosecution and defense.

Ledbetter was arrested in June following a Riverside Police Department investigation that began in September 2020, according to Detective Brian Money, who said at the time investigators believed the defendant may have stolen several hundred thousand dollars in unemployment benefits from the California Employment Development Department.

The investigation began with a traffic stop on Sept. 19, 2020, resulting in Ledbetter being taken into custody for driving on a suspended license.

Money said $9,000 in casino winnings was seized from the car, where officers also located "nearly 23 grams of heroin, needle syringes and 13 EDD ATM cards" that were in other people's names -- all of them in other states.

Ledbetter was released on his own recognizance, but the investigation continued, ultimately pointing to numerous instances of the defendant "making $1,000 cash withdrawals using each of the 13 EDD cards" on different occasions, over an unspecified period, Money said.

He said the individuals in whose names and with whose Social Security numbers EDD unemployment claims had been filed were completely unaware of what had transpired.

The police department's Economic Crimes Unit is actively investigating numerous cases, and the District Attorney's Office's Bureau of Investigation has also been busy, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice.

A report released on Jan. 28 by California State Auditor Elaine Howle estimated the EDD last year disbursed at least $10.4 billion in benefits based on fraudulent claims, all of which were tied to the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance provided under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief & Economic Security Act.

The audit uncovered instances in which the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General flagged nearly three million unemployment claims as likely connected to fraud.

City News Service contributed to this report.