Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Richard Walker, Special Agent in Charge, United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations (OLRFI-Miami), and Jesse Panuccio, Executive Director, State of Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) announce that Rodney Fleurimond, 24, of Miami, was sentenced today before U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno to twenty-four months and one day in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Fleurimond was furthered ordered to pay $60,405 in restitution.
Fleurimond previously entered a plea of guilty to one count of fraudulently using unauthorized access devices to obtain anything of value aggregative over $1,000, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1029(a)(2), and one count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A(a)(1).
According to court records, from Oct. 20, 2013 through June 26, 2014, the State of Florida unemployment insurance claims of at least 188 victims were accessed online from Fleurimond’s residences using the victims’ personally identifying information, including their names and social security numbers. A total of $60,405 in fraudulent unemployment insurance benefits was paid into bank accounts controlled or used by Fleurimond. Specifically, the fraudulent unemployment insurance claims of eleven victims were deposited into Fleurimond’s personal checking account; twelve additional fraudulent claims were deposited into other accounts associated with Fleurimond. Bank photographs reflect Fleurimond withdrew fraudulent funds from each of these accounts. The amount of loss resulting from Fleurimond’s offense was $142,905.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of OLRFI-Miami and DEO. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie R. Galvin.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
