HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A Guam Department of Labor employee admitted that he modified existing unemployment claims to divert claimants’ benefits to bank accounts that he controlled.
Jerome Michael Cruz, 38, pleaded guilty to two counts that charge him with federal program theft and accessing protected computer in furtherance of fraud, according to court documents.
In September 2020, Cruz was employed full-time at the Guam Department of Labor as a customer service representative assisting customers with Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation claims.
On Sept. 26, 2020, Cruz submitted an application for PUA and FPUC benefits falsely certifying that he was unemployed and eligible for PUA and FPUC benefits, the plea agreement states. The application contained numerous warnings that false statements are punishable by law.
As a result of the false statements, Cruz received $10,935 in benefits he was not entitled to, including $3,000 in FPUC benefits.
On Oct. 13, 2020, Cruz was transferred within GDOL and lost his access to the PUA and FPUC computer system, but used another GDOL employee’s login credentials.
“Upon accessing the GDOL computer system without authorization, defendant modified an existing PUA claim for another person in order to change the payment method from paper check to direct deposit and to route that claimant’s benefits to a bank account Cruz controlled,” court documents state. Cruz obtained $2,415 in fraudulent benefits.
Cruz made additional attempts to modify existing PUA and FPUC claims to his bank accounts totaling an additional $79,650. The additional attempts were flagged for fraud by GDOL employees and were not paid out.
The total intended loss was $93,000.
GDOL Director David Dell’Isola said he’s fully aware of the case.
“I’m not going talk specifics other than the fact that we were fully aware, we brought it to the feds and we worked very closely with them. And I never hid the fact that we’ve been working with the AG’s office, the FBI, and the (Office of Inspector General) on fraud and on PUA claimants and situations like this. So this is not the first or the last and we continue to work very diligently to ensure that I run a clean program and no one is above the law when it comes to our program.”
Dell’Isola confirmed that GDOL reported the case to the federal government.
“I want to thank the FBI for working so quickly with us and bringing this to a conclusion.”
When asked if it was surprising a GDOL employee would do this, Dell’Isola said: “I can’t comment. I don’t know what to say.”
The former Pandemic Unemployment Assistance processing center at Guam Community College is seen in this file photo.
The Guam Daily Post photo
