Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin announced that Joao M. Branco (age 42), with a last known address of 23 Pleasant Street, Apt 2, Cumberland, RI, pled nolo contendere yesterday before Providence Superior Court Special Magistrate Patrick T. Burke to one count of obtaining money under false pretenses for collecting more than $22,000 in unemployment insurance benefits while he was employed with Durham D&M LLC, Warrenville IL.
Branco was sentenced to 10 years probation and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $22,015 to the State of Rhode Island.
Had the case proceeded to trial, the State was prepared to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that between November 29, 2009 and August 9, 2014 Branco failed to report his weekly earnings to the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training when he called into the DLT Teleserve voice response system to authorize his weekly unemployment benefits.
Also yesterday, Derek L. Sebastiao (age 34), with a last known address of 44 Desmont Court, Warwick, RI, pled nolo contendere before Magistrate Burke to one count of obtaining money under false pretenses for collecting over $21,000 in unemployment insurance benefits while he was working for Lonsdale Concrete in Cumberland RI.
Sebastiao was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $21,720 to the State of Rhode Island.
Had the case proceeded to trial, the State was prepared to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that between May 10, 2008 and March 3, 2012 Sebastiao failed to report his weekly earnings to the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training when he called into the DLT Teleserve voice response system to authorize his weekly unemployment benefits.
"Both individuals were given ample opportunity to repay the money they fraudulently stole from the State's unemployment insurance benefit fund prior to arrest and prosecution. Their disregard of the law combined with their avoidance to repay the system has resulted in significant sentences that will stay on their record for a long time. While some may see this type of crime as harming no one, the truth is that it harms the taxpayers and hard working individuals who pay into the system. And, for that, we will aggressively prosecute individuals who steal from the taxpayers," said Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin.
DLT fraud investigators Tommy Ariza and Colleen Ferreira handled the cases initially, referring them to the Rhode Island State Police Auto Theft and Insurance Fraud Unit, where Detectives Adam Kennett and Stephen W. Brown completed the investigations.
Special Assistant Attorney General Genevieve Allaire Johnson prosecuted both cases on behalf of the Office of Attorney General and the State of Rhode Island. Funded by RI DLT, Allaire Johnson prosecutes all unemployment insurance fraud, worker's compensation fraud, prevailing wage violations and labor standards fraud cases.