California woman pleads guilty to stealing identities to secure COVID relief funds

A Fresno woman was in federal court on Friday, accused of taking upwards of $200,000 in loans meant to help small businesses during the pandemic.

Cecilia Aquino pled guilty to submitting fraudulent unemployment insurance claims in at least seven states, as well using stolen identities to submit fake applications for Small Business Administration disaster loans between June and November of 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

According to court documents, the 34-year-old submitted unemployment insurance claims and SBA loan applications from individuals who supposedly worked as self-employed dancers and owned interior design businesses and lost those jobs and business revenues because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aquino used the money for gambling, rent, shopping and ”other personal expenditures,” the Justice Department said. The actual loss from the fraud was $220,000; potentially it could have cost $300,000.

Sentencing for Aquino is scheduled for Feb. 21 and could include a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for the unemployment insurance and loan fraud, along with a mandatory two-year consecutive sentence for the identity theft.