SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California woman was charged with using the names of convicted killers, including Scott Peterson, to collect more than $145,000 in fraudulent unemployment benefits — a small but headline-grabbing part of more than $20 billion stolen in similar scams during the coronavirus pandemic, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Brandy Iglesias made her initial court appearance Wednesday on 10 charges including grand theft, forgery, identity theft and making false statements, the California attorney general’s office announced.
The office didn’t immediately say whether Iglesias had a defense attorney who could speak on her behalf or provide details of her court appearance.
One set of charges was for using Peterson’s name to claim $18,562 from the state Employment Development Department in June 2020. Peterson was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife and unborn child and dumping their bodies into San Francisco Bay on Christmas Eve 2002. But a judge is deciding whether Peterson must have a new trial because of juror misconduct.
Iglesias is also charged with filing for unemployment in the name of Cary Stayner in 2020, collecting $20,194. Stayner confessed to killing three women who were sightseeing in Yosemite National Park in 1999.
Peterson and Stayner were among numerous inmates who had claims filed in their names,…
