Shelby Man Sentenced To Over Six Years In Prison For Unemployment Insurance Fraud

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Jeffrey Glenn, 41, of Shelby, N.C., was sentenced on Tuesday, December 18, 2012 by U.S. District Court Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr. to serve 75 months in prison for unemployment insurance fraud and related offenses, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Judge Cogburn also ordered Glenn to pay $284,831 in restitution to the North Carolina Department of Commerce - Division of Employment Security.

U.S. Attorney Tompkins is joined in making today’s announcement by Richard L. Walker, Special Agent in Charge for the Atlanta, Georgia Region of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG), Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations.

Glenn and his co-conspirator, Reggie Lee Wimbush, were charged in August 2011 with wire fraud, mail fraud, theft of public money, identity theft and aggravated identity theft stemming from an unemployment insurance fraud scheme. According to filed documents and court proceedings, Glenn and Wimbush devised and executed a scheme to fraudulently obtain money to which they were not entitled from the Unemployment Insurance Program (UIP). The purpose of the UIP is to provide cash payments to unemployed workers to cover life’s necessities such as food, shelter and clothing, while they seek other employment. Unemployment insurance benefits are disbursed either as debit Mastercard cards mailed to claimants or through direct deposits to the claimants’ bank accounts. The UIP debit cards can be used at any point-of-sale terminal or at automated teller machines (ATMs) where MasterCard is accepted.

Court records show that from May 2009 to July 2011, Glenn and Wimbush filed numerous unemployment insurance claims using the identities of 23 people, most of whom were identity theft victims, associated with 15 fictitious employers. Glenn and Wimbush, who stole over $284,000 through their unemployment insurance fraud scheme, expended the fraudulently-obtained benefits through use of the UIP debit cards, including cash withdrawals at ATMs.

Glenn, who has been in custody since his August 2011 arrest, pleaded guilty to all counts in his indictment on December 28, 2011. His co-defendant, Wimbush, was sentenced on the same charges to 57 months in prison on October 23, 2012.

The investigation was handled by DOL-OIG. This case has been prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tom O’Malley of the Western District of North Carolina.