Mississippi man convinced elderly to give personal information which he used to steal COVID unemployment funds
Published 3:33 pm Friday, June 24, 2022
A Mississippi man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for wire fraud related to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, federal authorities said.
Court documents show Hancock County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Trevon Evans, 25, of Kiln, on Aug. 3, 2020, in relation to two stolen vehicles and found him in possession of multiple identification cards with different names.
Further investigation found that Evans had taken advantage of elderly neighbors by convincing them to give him their personal information so that he could help them get benefits related to the COVID pandemic. Evans then used that information to apply for unemployment insurance in the victims’ names and had the benefits sent to him at his home, U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca said in a news release Friday.
The benefits totaled more than $7,000 and were used by Evans at casinos along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, court records showed.
Evans pleaded guilty to wire fraud on Feb. 16 in federal court in Gulfport and was sentenced Thursday, LaMarca’s office said.