A Sacramento man has entered a guilty plea for his involvement in a Covid-related unemployment insurance fraud scheme. Roosevelt Gulley III, aged 41, faced charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, as announced by U.S. Attorney Eric Grant. According to documentation from the court, Gulley engaged in fraudulent activities between July and September 2020, targeting the Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefit program run by the California Employment Development Department (EDD).
Gulley acquired personal information, including Social Security numbers, birth dates, and names, to unfairly submit at least 79 fraudulent UI benefit applications to the California EDD. "Roosevelt Gulley collected the personally identifiable information of individuals without their knowledge to fraudulently collect unemployment insurance benefits intended for American workers who lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic," remarked Quentin Heiden, Special-Agent-in-Charge for the Western Region of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, in a statement made by the U.S. Attorney's Office. The scheme led to the wrongful issuance of UI benefits debit cards, which Gulley retrieved and from which he extracted funds through various ATMs, totaling an actual loss of over $575,000.
The investigation, conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Inspector General and California EDD's Investigation Division, included assistance from the U.S. Secret Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Denise N. Yasinow is responsible for prosecuting the case. The fraud not only victimized the state but also the individuals whose identities Gulley exploited during a time of significant upheaval and economic hardship for many households.
Gulley is scheduled to be sentenced on January 26, 2026, with a possible maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment for wire fraud and a mandatory consecutive two-year term for the aggravated identity theft. The sentencing will, however, be subject to the discretion of U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd, who will consider to carefully factor in applicable statutory elements along with the federal Sentencing Guidelines. These guidelines incorporate a variety of variables that can affect sentencing outcomes.
This case is part of broader efforts by the California COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Strike Force, established to aggressively pursue those engaging in pandemic relief fraud. The multi-agency task force is dedicated to rooting out large-scale, multistate fraud perpetrated by criminal organizations and transnational crime syndicates, which have sought to capitalize on the extensive governmental response to the pandemic health crisis.
