Woodbridge Man, Woman Stole CARES Act Unemployment Money: Feds

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — A Woodbridge man and woman, plus a third man from New York City, were arrested Friday after federal prosecutors said they stole unemployment insurance money from the CARES Act.

Christopher Valerio, 31, of Woodbridge, Yanira Abreu, 40, of Keasbey and Jose Tavares, 34, of New York City were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, said Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael Honig.

Federal prosecutors say the trio stole CARES Act unemployment money through identity theft and filing false unemployment claims.

From July 2020 through February 2021, prosecutors say the three fraudulently applied for unemployment insurance benefits from the New York Department of Labor by illegally using the personal information of at least a dozen victims, including the victims’ names and Social Security numbers.

They also set up fake mailing addresses for the victims.

Once the New York Department of Labor processed and approved the fraudulent applications, a bank transferred the money to debit cards in the names of their victims.

The trio withdrew the money using the cards at various ATM locations throughout New Jersey and New York, said U.S. Attorneys.

They are facing up to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors say the trio was able to do this because the CARES Act created a new temporary federal unemployment insurance program called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), which provides unemployment benefits for self-employed workers and independent contractors.

The CARES Act also created a new temporary federal program called Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance that provided an additional weekly benefit to those eligible for PUA and regular unemployment benefits.

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