79 fraudulent claims, debit cards by mail, and an ATM withdrawal trail
Roosevelt Gulley, 42, of Sacramento, California, was sentenced in June 2026 to four years and six months in federal prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Over three months in 2020, he collected other people's names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers and used them to submit at least 79 fraudulent unemployment claims to California's Employment Development Department, having the resulting benefit debit cards mailed to addresses he controlled and withdrawing the funds at ATMs.
- Year
- 2026
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $575,425
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Unemployment insurance fraud
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-11
The facts, as recorded
- Roosevelt Gulley, 42, of Sacramento, California, was sentenced to four years and six months in prison and ordered to pay $575,425 in restitution.
- He pleaded guilty on 15 September 2025 to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
- From July through September 2020, Gulley collected personally identifiable information — including names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers — belonging to other people, without their knowledge.
- He electronically submitted at least 79 fraudulent self-employment unemployment insurance applications to California's Employment Development Department (EDD).
- The fraudulent applications resulted in EDD benefit debit cards being mailed to addresses Gulley listed on the applications, rather than the real claimants' own addresses.
- He withdrew the loaded funds from ATMs after the cards arrived.
- The actual loss attributed to the scheme was more than $575,000, against an intended loss exceeding $1.5 million.
- U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said Gulley exploited "a national crisis for personal gain" by "stealing identities and siphoning COVID-19 relief funds."
Why this case matters
The debit card is the hinge of this version of the scheme: an application filed in someone else’s name only becomes cash once a state agency mails a benefit card to an address the fraudster — not the real person — controls. That mailing address, not the stolen identity itself, is what eventually connects the fraud back to Gulley.
A gap between actual and intended loss
The scheme’s intended take was more than $1.5 million against an actual loss of just over $575,000 — a reminder that a fraud ring’s application volume and its successful cash-out are two different numbers, and state agencies’ own fraud controls stopped a meaningful share of the 79 applications before money moved.
The caveat
Gulley has been sentenced; this is a concluded criminal case.
Sources
- Sacramento Man Sentenced for Covid-Related Unemployment Insurance Fraud Scheme. California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (reproducing the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California press release). Accessed 2026-09-11. Supports: Gulley's name, age and location, the sentence, the guilty plea date, the July–September 2020 timeline, the personal information collected, the 79 fraudulent applications, the debit-card mailing and ATM withdrawal method, the actual and intended loss figures, and the Grant quote.