{"id":1484599,"date":"2022-05-19T15:15:20","date_gmt":"2022-05-19T19:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1484599"},"modified":"2022-05-19T15:15:30","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T19:15:30","slug":"convicted-murderer-led-2-million-pandemic-related-unemployment-scheme-in-california-prosecutors-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/convicted-murderer-led-2-million-pandemic-related-unemployment-scheme-in-california-prosecutors-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Convicted Murderer Led $2 Million Pandemic-Related Unemployment Scheme In California, Prosecutors Say"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fconvicted-murderer-led-2-million-pandemic-related-unemployment-scheme-in-california-prosecutors-say%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1484599&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/05\/Fraud-scaled-e1652984929138.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>A convicted murderer serving life in prison was named as the ring leader of a multi-million dollar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/california\">California<\/a> unemployment scheme Tuesday, according to the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Natalie Le DeMola, 37, along with 12 others were charged for their connection to the scheme that authorities estimate procured them around $2 million, the Los Angeles Times <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2022-05-18\/california-unemployment-fraud-scheme-led-from-prison-prosecutors-say\"><span>reported<\/span><\/a><span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cA 39-count indictment charges DeMola, [Carleisha Neosha] Plummer and 11 others with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, prosecutors said,\u201d according to the Times. \u201cThe conspiracy count alleges 150 overt acts, including illegally obtaining personal identifying information, some of which prosecutors allege was provided by an unnamed state prison employee.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Authorities said the unemployment scheme used stolen identities, including some from state prisoners, to receive benefits from the state. Most of the unemployment benefits were allegedly connected to pandemic relief, the Times noted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>According to the indictment, those involved in the benefits scheme \u201cwould acquire [information], such as the names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers, of individuals, including identity theft victims, who were not eligible for [unemployment insurance] benefits, including pandemic benefits, because they were employed, retired, or incarcerated.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Prosecutors allege that the conspirators would then apply for unemployment benefits and withdraw money from ATMs in Southern California.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Five of the other accused conspirators were arrested Tuesday, and six others either remain at large or are out of state.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Each conspiracy and bank fraud charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison and aggravated identity theft results in a two-year sentence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>DeMola was sentenced to life in prison after plotting to kill her mother in 2001. She was 16 at the time, and they reportedly got into frequent arguments about DeMola\u2019s relationship with her 17-year-old boyfriend, Terry Lee Bell.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Bell and his friend, Christopher Long, reportedly joked about \u201ctorturing\u201d the mother after one altercation. DeMola and Bell then began discussing her mother through email conversations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Weeks later, DeMola, along with Bell and Long, beat her mother to death in her home. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201c<\/span><span>Police found DeMola\u2019s mother unconscious on the floor at home in a pool of blood. Her ribs, nose, jaw and skull were broken,\u201d the Times reported.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Long was sentenced to 25 years to life on a first-degree murder charge. Bell and DeMola received life sentences without parole for first-degree murder with lying-in-wait and torture-murder special circumstances.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A convicted murderer serving life in prison was named as the ring leader of a multi-million dollar California unemployment scheme Tuesday, according to the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office.\u00a0Natalie Le DeMola, 37,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":324,"featured_media":1484652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1484599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1484599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/324"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1484599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1484599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1484652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1484599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1484599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1484599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}