ABINGDON, Va. – A Pound, Virginia man, who admitted to conspiring with others to defraud the government of nearly $500,000 in pandemic-related unemployment benefits, was sentenced today to 102 months in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution.
Jeffrey R. Tackett, 30, and his co-conspirators, concocted a scheme to gather personal identification information and then submit unemployment claims to the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) website for individuals who were known to be ineligible to receive pandemic unemployment benefits, including various inmates in Virginia Department of Corrections’ facilities.
“While Virginians were battling a global pandemic, this defendant and his co-conspirators were busy defrauding the federal and state unemployment system of nearly $500,000 in much-needed benefits,” United States Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh said today. “I am grateful for the collaborative work of the Department of Labor-Office of the Inspector General, IRS, and the Norton and Russell County authorities in bringing this conspiracy to justice.”
“Jeffrey Tackett engaged in a criminal scheme in which he and his co-conspirators filed fraudulent claims for pandemic unemployment assistance for individuals he knew to be ineligible for benefits, including incarcerated individuals. The sentence today should serve as a deterrent for those contemplating committing similar crimes and signal the commitment of the U.S. Department of Labor-Office of Inspector General to work...
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