30-year-old Devante Smith from Baltimore, along with 47-year-old Tiia Woods from Jacksonville, Florida, stole an estimated $298,685 from various people through an insurance fraud scheme.
How did they do this? One would ask.
Starting in June 2020 through May 2021, according to The U.S. Attorney's Office-District of Maryland, Smith stole money under false pretenses, filing phony unemployment insurance claims under various people's names with the Maryland Department of Labor (MD-DOL).
They were able to do this by stealing ID cards, social security cards, and/or birth certificates from their victims.
As one would imagine, Smith and company spent this money on whatever they wanted to.
Smith was sentenced to 57 months in prison with three years of supervised release following the prison time.
This insurance money was slotted to help people who were unemployed due to COVID-19.
To add salt to the wallet, this money is available in the first place because of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
This is a federal law enacted in March 2020 which provided emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
