5 Charged In Ongoing RI Unemployment Fraud Investigation

CRANSTON, RI — Five Florida men are facing charges as part of an ongoing investigation into fraudulent unemployment claims in Rhode Island. The group is accused of fraudulently applying for or withdrawing unemployment benefits from the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training.

Four people were arrested on Tuesday, are: James Legerme, 29, of Sunrise, Junior Mertile, 30, of Pembroke Pines, Tony Mertile, 28, of Miramar, and Irvin Vilneus, 28, of North Lauderdale. The fifth, Allen Bien-Aime, 29, of Lehigh Acres, has not yet been arrested. At the time of their arrest, police seized more than $1.2 million in cash, debit cards in the names of their victims, jewelry and six guns.

"When people collect benefits they aren’t entitled to, as is alleged here, they reduce the amount of benefits that are available to those who are eligible and who really need them," Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said. "These defendants' alleged conduct sought to defraud the government during a crucial time as it provided assistance to struggling Rhode Islanders. That’s why this work is important, and that's why we do it."

According to the Department of Justice, the group stole the identities of Rhode Islanders and others, using them to apply for unemployment benefits online. The funds were then deposited into a series of bank accounts that were opened for that purpose, along with fraudulent federal and state tax refunds. At least three of the people are believed to have directly filed for benefits, while all five are accused of withdrawing the money after it was deposited.

"As today's announcement makes clear, there are serious, criminal, consequences to making use of stolen personal identification information, filing fraudulent applications for unemployment insurance, and withdrawing such fraudulently obtained funds for one's own, unlawful, benefit," United States Attorney in Rhode Island Aaron Weisman said. "The federal government, with its many dedicated components and with the invaluable assistance of our state and local law enforcement partners, is committed to and will spare no effort in ensuring that unemployment insurance funds not be fraudulently misdirected by scammers and away from the hardworking Rhode Islanders entitled to and deserving of unemployment benefits."

All five were charged with bank fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, access device fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, aggravated identity theft, theft of public money, conspiracy to commit theft of public money, conspiracy to commit access, conspiracy to commit access device fraud and conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft. The four arrested this week appeared in U.S. District Court in Florida, and will appear in court in Providence at a later date.

“During a time when life was brought to a standstill by an unprecedented pandemic, these individuals chose to prey on the most vulnerable and those in need of the government’s assistance," Rhode Island State Police Col. James Manni said. "Their indiscriminate criminal actions affected tens of thousands of Americans and the full weight of Federal, State and Local investigative forces was used to bring them to justice."

The investigation, which is ongoing, is being conducted across several states and agencies: the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Rhode Island State Police, the Internal Revenue Service's department of criminal investigations and the Department of Labor, with assistance from the United States Postal Inspection Service, United States Secret Service and United States Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General.

Rhode Islanders who believe their identity was stolen and used to apply for unemployment benefits can reach out to the state police by emailing financialcrimes@risp.gov or calling the FBI's Providence division at 401-272-8310.