Thirteen Los Angeles County employees across seven departments have been charged with felony grand theft after allegedly stealing more than $437,000 in unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic, officials announced on October 14.
According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, the employees continued receiving county paychecks while fraudulently filing unemployment claims between 2020 and 2023. Each defendant faces one felony count of grand theft and one misdemeanor charge.
Prosecutors said the defendants falsely certified under penalty of perjury that they earned less than $600 a week, making them appear eligible for unemployment benefits. In reality, all were earning more than the legal limit and thus ineligible for those benefits.
District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman condemned the alleged conduct, saying, “As government employees, we have an obligation to uphold the public’s trust. Most egregiously, these individuals allegedly claimed to be unemployed during the COVID pandemic when millions of Californians were legitimately in need of unemployment benefits.”
The defendants represent a range of county departments, including the Department of Public Social Services, Department of Children and Family Services, Sheriff’s Department, and Auditor-Controller’s Office. Among them are Alla Agamalian, an administrative manager accused of stealing $37,800, and Jessica Antonia Chandler, a social worker charged with stealing $48,900. Others allegedly took sums ranging from $9,000 to nearly $58,000.
Several defendants, including Chandra Kameko Tisdale, Kelley Collins, and Raquel Martinez-Alvarez, have warrants filed in their cases.
If convicted, each defendant faces up to three years in state prison.
The Los Angeles County Auditor-Controller’s Office, which investigates fraud, waste, and abuse through its Fraud Hotline, estimated that the county lost more than $3.75 million to unemployment fraud during the pandemic, including $1.7 million linked to county employees.
Overall, the county reports that public and private employers across Los Angeles lost an estimated $10 billion in Employment Development Department (EDD) fraud during the pandemic.
