Arrested were Wylene Johnson, 41, Chester; Tameka Edmonds, 32, Marcus Hook; and Cookie Bundy, 41, Hakeem Cooper, 42, Louis Barnett, 43, and Barry Mitchell, 33, all of Philadelphia.
“The amount of pandemic program fraud uncovered in the last two-plus years is utterly offensive,” said Jacqueline Maguire, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “This was emergency financial assistance meant to keep families, businesses, and the economy afloat, not a golden ticket for crooks and opportunists to live the high life. As these mounting indictments show, the FBI continues to investigate those who so eagerly defrauded the government and we’re committed to holding each and every one accountable for their crimes.”
The feds gave this account:
Johnson, Bundy, Cooper, Barnett and Mitchell are each charged with four counts of mail fraud and one count of theft of government money in the submission of applications.
They submitted (or caused to be submitted) nearly 100 fraudulent applications resulting in a loss to the government of nearly $1 million. All of the applications submitted as part of this scheme listed Johnson’s former address in Philadelphia as the mailing address for benefits. After…
