A Georgia woman was sentenced to 51 months of imprisonment for stealing numerous identities in multiple states while operating a “fictitious employer scheme” that defrauded state unemployment insurance programs of approximately $125,000. The scam was first detected in Connecticut.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Vicky Sue Cohran, 53, of Temple, Georgia, with the assistance of her two sons, utilized several state unemployment insurance program websites to register businesses that had no actual employees, business operations or normal business expenses. Cohran and her sons then created and submitted fictitious wage reports that used names and identifying information of individuals without their knowledge. Cohran and her sons then posed as fictitious employees to file claims for unemployment benefits.
Through this scheme, according to court records, Cohran used the names and identifying information of approximately 27 individuals to steal a total of $120,214 from the unemployment insurance programs of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Washington, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and New Jersey. The scheme was uncovered shortly after Cohran registered a fictitious business with the Connecticut Department of Labor in September 2014.
Cohran was ordered to pay full restitution. In August she pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of misuse of a social security number.
Her son, Christopher Cohran, 26, of Temple, Georgia, earlier this week waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty in Hartford federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a charge that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 30, 2016. Nathan Cohran, 30, of Temple, was scheduled to plead guilty to the same charge.
