On April 29, 2022, a BOP Cook Supervisor at the United States Penitentiary Thomson in Illinois, who was previously a Senior Correctional Officer assigned to the Metropolitan Detention Center Brooklyn in New York, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft of public money. Keyawnia Ross pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of New York. According to the plea agreement, Ross pleaded guilty to counts one and two of the Superseding Indictment, which stated that from in or about February 2019 through in or about July 2019, Ross submitted false claims for unemployment benefits to the New York State (NYS) Department of Labor (DOL). In each submission, Ross certified that she was unemployed, available to take on new work and eligible for benefits when, in fact, she was employed by the BOP, reporting to work, and receiving her federal salary. As a result, Ross improperly received more than $9,600 in unemployment insurance benefits through the New York State Unemployment Insurance Fund, which were funded by the Department of Justice. Also according to the Superseding Indictment, from in or about April 2020 through in or about June 2020, Ross again submitted false claims for unemployment benefits to the NYS DOL. As before, Ross certified that she was unemployed, available to work and eligible for benefits when, in fact, she was employed by the BOP, reporting to work, and receiving her federal salary. As a result, Ross allegedly improperly received more than $6,200 in unemployment benefits from the NYS DOL, consisting of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program payments, which were funded by the Department of Justice. The investigation is being conducted by the OIG’s Boston Area Office and the U.S. DOL OIG New York Regional Office.
Date
Case Action
Plea