A San Bernardino County couple were arrested on a nine-count federal grand jury indictment alleging they fraudulently obtained more than $2.1 million in COVID-19 pandemic relief funds, according to the United States Department of Justice.
Lisa Puente, 43, of Rialto, and Arthur Marquez, 53, of San Bernardino allegedly received the fund by submitting more than 120 fraudulent applications for unemployment insurance benefits using stolen identities, including those of California state prisoners, justice officials stated.
Puente and Marquez were arraigned on Nov. 5, in United States District Court in Riverside.
The charges
The defendants are charged with six counts of mail fraud and one count of use of unauthorized access devices. Puente and Marquez also each are charged with one count of aggravated identity theft, Justice officials stated.
Puente and Marquez pleaded not guilty to the charges against them, and a Dec. 30 trial date has been scheduled.
A federal magistrate judge ordered Puente released on a $20,000 bond and Marquez released on a $10,000 bond.
According to the indictment returned on Oct. 9 and unsealed in November, from February 2020 to August 2023, Puente and Marquez allegedly filed with the California Employment Development Department fraudulent applications for unemployment insurance benefits in the names of other people.
The Employment Development Department administers California’s unemployment benefits program.
The incarcerated
The other people included individuals who did not qualify for unemployment insurance because they were incarcerated in California state prisons and people whose personal identifying information was used without their permission, according to justice officials.
The applications falsely stated that they were individuals whose employment had been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which triggered eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits under federal law.
The applications also falsely stated that the named claimants resided and had worked in California. Most identity theft victims in this scheme did not live in California, justice officials stated.
The applications also allegedly used false mailing addresses and bogus prior annual income information. The named claimants were unemployed self-employed individuals whose employment was adversely impacted by COVID-19, officials said.
As a result of the bogus unemployment insurance applications that Puente and Marquez allegedly filed, the Employment Development Department authorized Bank of America to issue debit cards in the names of dozens of victims and straw claimants.
124 alleged fraudulent applications
Once in possession of the debit cards, the defendants withdrew the unemployment insurance benefits loaded onto the debit cards by making cash withdrawals at ATMs and bank branches and by using the debit cards to buy items sold at businesses.
In total, Puente and Marquez allegedly caused at least 124 fraudulent applications for unemployment insurance benefits to be filed, causing losses to the Employment Development Department and the United States Treasury of approximately $2,136,768.
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Possible maximum sentences
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court, justice officials said.
If convicted, the defendants would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each mail fraud count, up to 10 years in federal prison for the unauthorized access device count, and a mandatory two-year consecutive prison sentence for the aggravated identity theft count, justice officials explained.
Those involved in the case investigation include:
- The United States Department of Labor Office of Inspector General
- The California Employment Development Department Investigation Division
- Homeland Security Investigations
- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General
- The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Special Service Unit
- The United States Secret Service.
- The U.S. Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General
- The United States Postal Inspection Service
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866- 720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at justice.gov.
