LA County DA Charges 13 L.A. County Employees with Stealing Over $430,000 in Unemployment Benefits

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has charged 13 Los Angeles County employees from seven different agencies with felony grand theft for stealing a combined $437,383 in state unemployment benefits between 2020 and 2023.

“As government employees, we have an obligation to uphold the public’s trust,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said. “When a civil servant steals from the government, that trust is broken. The scale of fraud in these cases is shocking, spanning seven different County agencies, including employees whose very job was to help the public determine whether they were eligible for public benefits. Most egregiously, these individuals allegedly claimed to be unemployed during the COVID pandemic when millions of Californians were legitimately in need of unemployment benefits. I thank Los Angeles County Auditor-Controller Oscar Valdez for his partnership and commitment to holding government employees accountable. Today, we are putting all government employees on notice: If you steal from taxpayers, you will be prosecuted.”

Each of the 13 Los Angeles County employees was charged with one felony count of grand theft and one lesser included misdemeanor offense.

While working for Los Angeles County and receiving County paychecks between 2020 and 2023, the defendants allegedly submitted fraudulent unemployment insurance claims to the California Employment Development Department in which they falsely claimed, under penalty of perjury, that they earned less than $600 per week during each two-week claim period. In fact, the employees earned more than $600 a week, making them ineligible for unemployment benefits. [MORE]