The debit and credit cards were intended for unemployment recipients in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.
Khaori Monroe, 29, of Newark, and Ross Clayton, 31, of Irvington, are also each subject to two years of supervised release, the
said. A federal judge ordered each to pay $53,321.05 in restitution and about $25,000 apiece in forfeiture.Clayton worked at a United States Postal Service facility in Newark when he, including debit cards, prosecutors said. Clayton applied for unemployment in California on July 13, 2020, under the names of two different victims and obtained a pair of $18,000 debit cards, according to charging documents.
He spent all of the money on one card and $11,000 on the other before being caught, the court papers state. Clayton was seen on surveillance footage at an ATM in New Jersey using the two cards to withdraw cash on Aug. 16, 2020.took the debit and credit cards from July through October 2020Monroe was captured on surveillance cameras using one of the stolen cards to make a withdrawal from an ATM, according to court papers.
The money Clayton and Monroe took was from the CARES Act, which provided unemployment insurance benefits for people not eligible for other types of unemployment such as the self-employed, independent contractors and gig economy workers.