LAS VEGAS, Nev. – On Thursday, a Woodlands, Texas, man pleaded guilty for his role in an unemployment insurance benefits scheme to defraud the California Employment Development Department (EDD).
According to court documents and admissions made in court, around May 2020, Paul Andrew Naeger (38) and his co-conspirators began submitting fraudulent unemployment insurance claims with the EDD, using other people’s personal identifying information without their consent. Some of the EDD debit cards associated with those fraudulent unemployment claims were mailed to rental mailboxes in Santa Clarita, Los Angeles, and Sherman Oaks. The debit cards were used for cash withdrawals and to purchase goods and services. In total, EDD approved at least $334,230 in benefits for the fraudulent claims. Naeger and his co-conspirators used at least $164,137 of the unemployment insurance benefits, including to pay for Naeger’s bail after he was arrested and detained on unrelated state charges in Houston, Texas.
Naeger pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to effect illegal transactions with access devices and one count of aggravated identity theft. U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan scheduled sentencing for December 1, 2021. Naeger faces statutory maximum penalties of seven and a half years in prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiracy to effect illegal transactions with access devices, and two years in prison for aggravated identity theft.
Co-defendant Brittany Danielle Griesel has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing. Co-defendant Kenneth Edward Greenland has been indicted by a grand jury and is currently awaiting trial.