The Justice Department is announcing that a West Warwick man has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for a COVID unemployment scheme.
Fifty-seven-year-old Richard Allen pleaded guilty to mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and theft of government money.
According to the charging documents, Allen admitted that he failed to report a change of income to the Social Security Administration (SSA), and specifically stated on SSA documents that “I do not receive any other type of income,” thus fraudulently continuing to collect Supplemental Security Income payments from the SSA he began receiving in June 2018.
He was ordered to pay over 150-thousand dollars in restitution.
The DOJ says Allen admitted to using other people's information to file for pandemic-related benefits in multiple states.
(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)