GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WNDU) – Six people from Benton Harbor have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges relating to pandemic fraud schemes they used to obtain over $1 million in COVID-19 relief, including fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits and small business loans.
The following individuals are charged in the indictment are:
- Roshell Beaty (aka Roshell Clinton, Angel Clinton, and Angel Beaty), 45, of Benton Harbor
- Melvin Clinton (Beaty’s son), 21, of Benton Harbor
- Danielle Branch (aka Danielle Beaty – Beaty’s daughter), 28, of Benton Harbor
- Christopher Branch (Beaty’s son), 27, a resident of the Atlanta, Georgia area who is from Benton Harbor.
- Christopher Bates, 22, of Benton Harbor
- Brianna Rimpson, 24, a resident of the Grand Rapids area who previously lived in Benton Harbor
The indictment alleges that, between April 2020 and December 2021, they all conspired to commit wire fraud by submitting falsified and fraudulent claims and certifications for pandemic unemployment insurance benefits in their own names and in the names of third parties, some of whom were victims of identity theft.
According to the indictment, they all submitted at least 98 false and fraudulent unemployment insurance claims and related certifications in multiple states in the names of at least 61 different individuals. In response to those claims, the states of Michigan, Indiana, California, Illinois, and Arizona paid out more than $764,000 in pandemic unemployment insurance…
