WORCESRTER – A local woman pleaded guilty to involvement in pandemic unemployment fraud scheme in federal district court in Worcester on Monday.
Destinee Snay, 20, of Leicester, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The judge in the case, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Hillman, scheduled sentencing for October 12.
Snay was indicted in July 2021 with co-defendant William Condor. Condor pleased guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, four counts of wire fraud, and four counts of aggravated identity theft in November. He is scheduled for sentencing on June 16.
According to federal prosecutors, from around June 2020 to October 2020, Snay and Cordor conspired to file false and fraudulent claims for unemployment assistance in multiple states using stolen identities. They sourced the identites from several places, including Facebook and from former fellow inmates at the Worcester County House of Correction.
Prosecutors say Snay created phony email accounts on Gmail, AOL and Yahoo which she used to file the fraudulent claims. In total, Snay personally filed approximately 20 false and fraudulent unemployment claims for Massachusetts and other states. Snay and Cordor then transferred the funds into prepaid debit card accounts and used the proceeds to pay for hotels, rental cars, a trip to Miami and a shopping spree at Saks Fifth Avenue.
The charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.
