Five men from Cleveland Heights and University Heights will each spend between 44 to 78 months behind bars for a pandemic unemployment benefits scheme that netted them more than $800,000.
Investigators with the Department of Justice say from May to Oct. of 2020, they submitted fake applications for pandemic unemployment insurance benefits to states around the country.
When the money was approved, it was put onto debit cards in other people's names but mailed to the 5-men, who would then use the cards at ATMs in northern Ohio to withdraw the cash.
The defendants were also ordered to pay $872,143 in restitution for fraudulently obtained benefits.
The Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the United States Postal Inspection Service investigated this case with assistance from the Cleveland Heights Police Department.
