Kanawha County Man Sentenced to Prison for Conspiring to Fraudulently Obtain Unemployment and COVID-19 Benefits

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Joshua Lambert, 36, of St. Albans, was sentenced today to six months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $10,616 in restitution for conspiring to steal public money, property or records. Lambert admitted that he fraudulently obtained $10,616 in unemployment benefits, including COVID-19 supplementary funds, while in state and federal custody.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Lambert had been receiving legitimate unemployment benefits from June 2020 until on or about September 28, 2020, when he was incarcerated on state and federal charges. Lambert admitted that he conspired with a family member to receive unemployment benefits fraudulently while he was incarcerated. The family member accessed the WorkForce West Virginia website from a St. Albans residence for 32 consecutive weeks and falsely certified that Lambert was entitled to unemployment benefits. WorkForce West Virginia administers the unemployment compensation program for the State of West Virginia. Lambert admitted that he was not entitled to the benefits because he was incarcerated and unavailable to work.

Lambert was released from incarceration on or about April 8, 2024. Lambert admitted that he fraudulently applied for and received more than $10,616 in unemployment compensation benefits from at least September 2020 through at least May 2022. Lambert further admitted that the unemployment benefits he fraudulently obtained included supplementary funds provided by the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation Program (FPUC) of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Lambert has fully paid the $10,616 in court-ordered restitution.

United States Attorney Will Thompson made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the WorkForce West Virginia Integrity Section and the Litigation Financial Analyst with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

United States District Judge Irene C. Berger imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorney Andrew J. Tessman prosecuted the case.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:24-cr-39.

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