An Orlando man who treated pandemic unemployment benefits like his own personal jackpot is headed to federal prison for six years and three months. A jury found 36-year-old Dexter Ray King guilty of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft in a scheme prosecutors say funneled more than half a million dollars in pandemic unemployment money into accounts he controlled.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida, evidence at trial showed King filed dozens of fraudulent Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims across several states using stolen identities and fake addresses. Prosecutors said he also submitted claims in his own name using Social Security numbers that did not belong to him, then had the benefits mailed or directly deposited into accounts he controlled.
As reported by WFTV, King was sentenced to six years and three months in prison, and the court ordered the forfeiture of $549,375.50. WFTV also reports prosecutors said King received over $500,000 in fraud proceeds and spent the haul on a roughly $77,000 SUV, a trip to Las Vegas, upscale restaurants, and luxury fashion purchases.
How investigators say he did it
Investigators with the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General traced claim approvals and benefit mailings to addresses King controlled, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Multiple debit cards loaded with fraudulently obtained benefits were delivered to his Orlando apartment, reinforcing prosecutors' argument that King was at the center of the scheme. The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Del Mastro on behalf of the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Part of a larger enforcement push
King's sentence is one of many federal actions that followed a nationwide wave of pandemic-era benefit fraud, as agencies moved to crack down on abuse of emergency relief programs. The Department of Labor Office of Inspector General's pandemic response portal catalogs dozens of similar prosecutions and convictions around the country, reflecting how widespread this kind of fraud became once pandemic aid dollars started flowing.
Legal consequences
King was convicted of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, crimes codified in 18 U.S.C. § 1344 and 18 U.S.C. § 1028A. The aggravated identity theft statute carries a mandatory consecutive two-year prison term, and the bank fraud statute provides a maximum sentence of 30 years, according to Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute.
