Twelve Charged with Fraudulently Collecting More Than $160,000 in Unemployment Benefits

Press Release-TRENTON – Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced today that twelve people have been charged in separate indictments with stealing a total of $160,042 from New Jersey's unemployment insurance trust fund. 

The indictments resulted from cooperative investigations by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the Division of Criminal Justice Major Crimes Bureau.

"These indictments charge the defendants with illegally collecting thousands of dollars in benefits to which they were not entitled," Attorney General Milgram said. "Our goal is to identify those who cheat the system, prosecute them and recover the money taken from the state's unemployment insurance trust fund."

"The Department of Labor and Workforce Development uses a variety of methods to track those who would abuse the system and fraudulently obtain benefits," said Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development David J. Socolow. "These cases were first identified by Labor Department investigators by cross-matching employer-submitted wage information against UI benefit payments; pursuing leads from employer protests of UI benefit charges; surveying employer payroll records; and responding to alerts from concerned citizens."

According to Director Paw, the Division of Criminal Justice recently obtained the following state grand jury indictments:

State v. Shahidah A. Ballard.  Ballard, 24, of Trenton, was charged on Feb. 25 with third-degree theft by deception and fourth-degree unsworn falsification.  According to the indictment, Ballard illegally collected $3,496 in UI benefits.  The indictment alleges that after Ballard filed for UI benefits in March 2002, she earned wages as clerical support at Jersey Temporary Agency and at Affordable Dentures in Ewing that she did not report to the labor department.

State v. Michael Watterman.  Watterman, 40, of Jersey City, was charged on Feb. 14 with three counts of third-degree theft by deception and fourth-degree unsworn falsification for allegedly stealing $14,214 in UI benefits.  The indictment alleges that Watterman did not notify the labor department that while he was collecting on three UI benefits claims in 2002, 2003 and 2004, he was earning wages by working as a security guard for Spectaguard Acquisition LLC, Jersey City Public Schools and the Bowles Corporate Services.   

State v. Andrew J. Maiatico.  Maiatico, 46, of Somerdale, was charged on Feb. 14 with two counts of third-degree theft by deception and one count of fourth-degree unsworn falsification for allegedly stealing $15,169 in UI benefits.  Maitico filed for UI benefits in April 2002 and December 2003. According to the indictment, Maiatico was employed as a bricklayer by Dandrea Masonary Inc. in West Berlin while collecting on each claim but failed to report the earnings to the labor department.

State v. Glisett Ramirez. Ramirez, a.k.a. Glisett Osorio, 38, formerly of North Brunswick, was charged on Feb. 14 with third-degree theft by deception and fourth-degree unsworn falsification.  The indictment alleges that after filing for UI benefits in June 2002, Ramirez worked as a paraprofessional for the New Brunswick Board of Education and as an administrator of educational tests for the Educational Testing Service.  By not notifying the labor department of her earnings, Ramirez allegedly received $11,970 in UI benefits to which she was not entitled.   

State v. Todd M. Waters.  Waters, 36, of Myrtle Beach, S.C., was charged on Feb. 14 with two counts of third-degree theft by deception and one count of fourth-degree unsworn falsification for allegedly stealing $10,789 in UI benefits.  While collecting on a June 2002 UI benefits claim, Waters was allegedly employed as an iron worker by LVE Inc. in Bath, Pa..  While collecting on a June 2003 claim, Waters allegedly earned wages from Coastal Steel Construction of NJ, LLC. Waters allegedly failed to report the wages from those two jobs to the labor department.

State v. Virginia Youngblood.  Youngblood, 55, of Stone Mountain, Ga., was charged in a Feb. 4 indictment with third-degree theft by deception and fourth-degree unsworn falsification for allegedly collecting $13,464 to which she was not entitled.  The indictment charges that Youngblood collected UI benefits from October 2002 to November 2003, yet failed to alert the labor department that she was employed by at least six different employers during that time.

State v. Nicole Chin.  Chin, 29, of Plainfield, was charged on Feb. 4 with third-degree theft by deception and fourth-degree unsworn falsification for allegedly stealing $7,495 in UI benefits.  Chin allegedly failed to report to the labor department that she was earning wages from Robert I. Neufeld, D.P.M.L. as a bookkeeper in Union while she was collecting on a January 2004 UI benefits claim.

State v. Norman E. Switzer.  Switzer, 41, of Bayville, was charged in a Jan. 31 indictment with two counts of third-degree theft by deception and one count of fourth-degree unsworn falsification for allegedly stealing $27,718 in UI benefits.  According to the indictment, Switzer filed for UI benefits in July 2002 and December 2003, yet allegedly failed to notify the labor department that he was working for Midlantic Construction LLC, as a union laborer while collecting on those claims.

State v. Marcos A. Cozze.  Cozze, 45, of Califon, was charged on Jan. 31 with third-degree theft by deception and fourth-degree unsworn falsification.  Cozze filed a claim for UI benefits in March 2003 and collected on the claim until August of that year.  The indictment charges that that Cozze fraudulently collected $11,568 in UI benefit by failing to notify the labor department that he was collecting wages as a roofer for J Strobers & Sons LLC in Ringoes during that time. 

State v. Carl Taylor.  Taylor, 42, of Neptune, was charged on Jan. 31 with third-degree theft by deception and fourth-degree unsworn falsification.  The indictment charges that, after filing a UI benefits claim in August 2002, Taylor was employed by Sea Coast Motors Inc. in Oakhurst as a sales representative.  By not reporting the wages to the labor department, Taylor allegedly received $11,564 in UI benefits to which he was not entitled. 

State v. Tonya Robinson.  Robinson, 36, of North Brunswick, was charged on Jan. 29 with third-degree theft by deception and fourth-degree unsworn falsification.  According to the indictment, Robinson did not report the fact that during the time she was collecting on a February 2003 UI benefits claim, she worked for Macy's in Bridgewater as a customer service representative and Adecco CS Inc. in Plainfield as clerical support.  As a result, Robinson fraudulently collected $16,920 in UI benefits.

State v. Cemmie Hartley Jr.  Hartley, 52, of Willingboro, was charged on Jan. 17 with third-degree theft by deception and fourth-degree unsworn falsification for allegedly collecting $15,675 in UI benefits to which he was not entitled.  The indictment charges that Hartley failed to notify the labor department that he earned wages as a driller for Jersey Boring and Drilling Company in Livingston while he was collecting on an April 2002 UI benefits claim.

State Investigators Gary O'Brien and Lynn Fitzgerald coordinated the investigations.  The cases were presented to the state grand jury by Supervising Deputy Attorney General Christine Hoffman (Watterman, Maiatico and Ramirez) and Deputy Attorneys General Valerie Noto (Ballard and Cozze), Betty Rodriguez (Waters), Francine Ehrenberg (Chin and Youngblood), Adam Heck (Switzer and Taylor), Mark Kurzawa (Robinson) and Phillip Leahy (Hartley)

The indictments are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.  Third-degree crimes carry a sentence of up to five years in state prison and a fine of up to $15,000, while fourth-degree crimes carry a sentence of up to 18 months in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

View Indictments (1.47MB PDF)

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