EDD fraud: 2 USPS employees in LA accused of stealing hundreds of thousands in unemployment benefits
FILE PHOTO - United States Postal Service (USPS) employees work and deliver essential mail to customers. (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images) (Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES - Two United States Postal Service employees pleaded guilty Monday in Los Angeles to federal criminal charges accusing them of unlawfully buying and cashing tens of thousands of dollars' worth of postal money orders with unemployment benefits fraudulently obtained with false claims of COVID-related job losses.
Christian Jeremyah James, 31, of south Los Angeles, who worked in the Culver City Main Post Office, and Armand Caleb Legardy, 32, of Inglewood, who worked in the La Tijera Post Office on Crenshaw Boulevard in South Los Angeles, each pleaded guilty in separate hearings to one count of use of unauthorized access devices, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
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From August 2020 to February, James and Legardy used debit cards that the California Employment Development Department had issued to other people for unemployment insurance benefits -- cards that were obtained by other unidentified individuals using stolen identities and false information, according to their plea agreements.
James and Legardy admitted they used the EDD-issued debit cards in other people's names to purchase or cash money orders from the USPS and to withdraw thousands of dollars in cash from bank ATMs. The defendants also admitted that they deposited multiple fraudulently purchased postal money orders directly into their own bank accounts.
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Between Sept. 3 and Sept. 19, James deposited more than $27,000 worth of USPS money orders into his bank account, according to his plea agreement. Legardy deposited more than $10,000 in USPS money orders that had been illegally purchased with California EDD cards in other people's names, his plea agreement states.
James admitted to knowingly using at least eight EDD debit cards in other people's names and causing a loss of $142,652. Legardy admitted to illegally using nine EDD cards and causing a loss of $160,879.
U.S. District Judge George H. Wu scheduled sentencing hearings of Oct. 7 for James and Sept. 30 for Legardy, at which time each defendant will face up to 10 years in federal prison.
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