BOSTON - A former member of Boston Teamster Local 82 pleaded guilty today in connection with receiving more than $40,000 of unemployment benefits to which he was not entitled.
James Deamicis, 52, of Quincy, pleaded guilty to three counts of mail fraud and one count of theft of government property. Earlier this month, Deamicis was convicted by a federal jury of three counts of extorting businesses in Boston. U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper scheduled sentencing for all seven counts on March 23, 2016.
From 2008 to 2011, Deamicis received $41,391 in unemployment insurance benefits that he was not entitled to receive because he was collecting a paycheck while working as a member of Local 82. Deamicis’s bank records as well as employment and unemployment insurance records revealed that he failed to report his weekly earnings or significantly under-reported his earnings so that it appeared to the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Insurance that he was eligible to receive full or at least partial unemployment insurance when, in fact, he was employed nearly full-time and was not eligible.
Deamicis made several misrepresentations in the course of the three-year scheme. First, Deamicis applied for benefits over a recorded automated telephone system and in doing so, affirmed that he was not working. In reality, over that three-year period, Deamicis was working for Local 82 and earned $126,423. During the same time period, he also falsely reported to the Department of Unemployment Insurance that he earned only $22,249. Second, Deamicis certified under penalties of perjury that he had no earnings for work during the time period in which he was receiving benefits. Although Deamicis was employed, he endorsed each of the 73 unemployment insurance checks he received and thereby falsely certified that he had no earnings except as reported in his benefit claim certification.
The charge of mail fraud provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 on each count. The charge of theft of government property provides for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Scott S. Dahl, Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General; Jonathan Russo, District Director of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards; and Susan A. Hensley, Regional Director of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura J. Kaplan of Ortiz’s Organized Crime and Gang Unit.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
