Nehemiah Joel Weaver was sentenced to almost four years in prison after pleading guilty to using stolen personal information of UC San Diego (UCSD) students. The information was used to deceitfully apply for bank accounts, loans, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in unemployment benefits, as reported by La Jolla Light. Weaver's then-girlfriend and co-defendant, Mia Nikole Bell, played a significant role in the scheme and was sentenced last year to four months in prison plus an additional eight months of home detention.
The audacious plot involved Bell, who worked in a human resources capacity at UCSD, obtaining students' identifying information and passing it onto Weaver. According to prosecutors, Bell's role granted her access to personal data belonging to students hired as campus tour guides. With the help of this stolen information, the duo applied for new checking and savings accounts, as well as credit loans. Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Weaver even managed to obtain more than $200,000 in unemployment benefit payments from California's Employment Development Department and over $27,000 from Arizona's Department of Economic Security, as per NBC San Diego.
Adding insult to injury, Weaver used the ill-gotten gains to fund a lavish lifestyle, which included purchasing a BMW 740i and a slew of other luxury items. But there's more; at the time of the offenses, Weaver was already on probation in Michigan for stealing the identities of more college students. His criminal endeavors don't end there – Weaver had also reportedly sent death threats to a person he believed was cooperating with law enforcement.
During his sentencing hearing, Weaver expressed remorse, stating, "This is one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made in my life. I know saying sorry won't change what happened, but I'm willing to stand here and accept responsibility for what I did." He also spoke about the pressure to maintain a lifestyle he could not afford and how it led him to make poor decisions. U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel weighed in on the matter, ultimately sending Weaver to prison for 46 months and ordering him to pay a restitution amount of just over $225,000.
