Family members of a convicted murderer in the L.A. County jail system were arrested for allegedly cashing $30,000 worth of his unemployment checks, authorities said.
Anthony Garcia had family and friends cashing his $1,600-per-month government assistance checks while he served time, said Capt. Mike Parker, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. His accomplices would then deposit a portion of the money into Garcia’s jail account. They also shared the cash with Garcia’s fellow incarcerated gang members.
The investigation spanned from October 2008 to March 2010. “Investigators determined that … Garcia was having family members and friends fraudulently obtain and cash bi-weekly unemployment insurance benefit checks,” Parker said in a statement.
Parker did not say whether Garcia would face additional charges.
Parker said the unemployment money was being “used to benefit a criminal gang.”