Mother-Daughter from Newark Convicted of Huge Unemployment Fraud

A mother and daughter from Newark were convicted this month of using multiple  identities -- including those of dead people -- to defraud the state unemployment insurance program of nearly $600,000, acting state Attorney General John J. Hoffman said.

Janice Allen, 57, and her daughter Janice Dilligard, 37,  were convicted of second-degree conspiracy, second-degree theft by deception and other charges. Allen was also found guilty of third-degree theft by deception.  

The jury found that between 2007 and November 2010, Allen and Dilligard received unemployment benefits by filing false claims in the names of numerous claimants, including relatives and people who were deceased.

The two were investigated as part of “Operation Labor Day,” an investigation conducted by the state Division of Criminal Justice and the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

The investigation into Allen and Dilligard also resulted in indictments against five other people, including Dilligard’s twin brother Terry, his former girlfriend, 35-year-old Monique Valentine of Roselle, and the Dilliagrds’ father, Terry Sr., 58, of Deland, Fla.