YouTube tutorials helped CA woman steal more than $500,000 in COVID aid, feds say
A Southern California woman pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining more than $500,000 in coronavirus-related unemployment insurance, federal authorities announced Wednesday.
Cara Marie Kirk-Connell, 32, of Menifee admitted that she bought stolen identities and submitted claims to California’s Employment Development Department, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in a news release.
Kirk-Connell also confessed to watching YouTube tutorials on how to commit fraud, prosecutors said.
According to the plea agreement, Kirk-Connell used around 50 “unauthorized access devices” from May to Oct. 2020 and other stolen personal information — including birth dates and Social Security numbers — to apply for insurance benefits, prosecutors said. She’s accused of receiving debit cards with more than $500,000 in unemployment benefits and admitting that she knew people with access to the “dark web” from whom she bought stolen identities.
Kirk-Connell was arrested by Murietta police on Sept. 11 during a traffic stop, prosecutors said, and it was revealed that she had eight EDD debit cards with other people’s names and withdrawn more than $1,000 in cash the day before. She was arrested by federal law enforcement on Oct. 9 and they found four EDD debit cards in other people’s names in her purse, four additional cards in the trunk of her car and $10,000 in cash, according to the news release.
Records show that Kirk-Connell applied for $534,149 in benefits from California’s EDD program and around $270,000 had already been spent, according to the release, citing an affidavit filed with a criminal complaint.
California’s EDD distributes unemployment insurance under the CARES Act passed in March, which expanded benefits to include self-employed workers, business owners and independent contractors, according to the release.
Kirk-Connell is scheduled to appear at a hearing on Apr. 9 and faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years, prosecutors said.
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 11:48 AM with the headline "YouTube tutorials helped CA woman steal more than $500,000 in COVID aid, feds say."