A convicted teen killer serving a life sentence in California for murdering her mother has been charged with running a $2 million COVID-19 unemployment relief scam from behind bars.

Natalie Le DeMola, 37, is accused of obtaining the personal identity information of other inmates in the prison where she is incarcerated and their visitors, and handing them to her co-conspirators to file for unemployment relief funds during the early days of the pandemic.

Between June 2020 and April 2020, the group, which includes 12 other defendants, collected $2 million in fraudulent benefits, federal prosecutors said.

DeMola couldn’t immediately be reached for comment and no attorney was yet listed for her in court documents. It was unclear whether she had appeared in court yet to face the federal charges.

DeMola has been serving a life sentence at the California Instutution for Women since 2005 when she and her then-boyfriend, Terry Bell, were convicted of first-degree murder for beating her mother to death at their Corona, Calif., home in 2001.

DeMola, who was 16 at the time, and Bell, who was 17, had plotted to kill her mother because she objected to them dating, according to news reports from their trial.

Federal prosecutors say DeMola conspired with Carleisha Neosha Plummer, 32, a former fellow inmate at the Chino, Calif., women’s prison, who was paroled in July 2020.

Plummer could not immediately be reached and no attorney was yet listed for her in court documents.

DeMola allegedly procured the personal details, including dates of birth and social security numbers, of other inmates and their visitors from a prison associate who had access to a database containing that info.

She would then send the details on to her accomplices outside the prison who would use them to file for fraudulent unemployment benefits which they would have sent to mail boxes they controlled, prosecutors said.

Prison inmates aren’t eligible for unemployment benefits, but the gang would check boxes on the application stating they weren’t incarcerated, according to court documents.

Five of the 13 defendants — including DeMola — have been arrested, authorities said. All are charged with bank fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

link: https://www.marketwatch.com/st...testId=3&cx_testVari

Enterprising!

Well that's true. lol

quote:

Between June 2020 and April 2020, ...

???

Bad writing? Poor proofreading? Or have we reached the end and are moving backwards in time until we get to zero?

This is common in indictments when a specific date cannot be determined.

Having the later month come before an earlier month of the the same year is common? Why?

Open question to any lawyers and LEOs who know.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Five of the 13 defendants — including DeMola — have been arrested...

Did they move her from a prison to a jail? Wouldn't that be like an upgrade for her?

quote:

Originally posted by Rawny:
Did they move her from a prison to a jail? Wouldn't that be like an upgrade for her?

According to public records, she is still in the same prison. She would probably only get moved to a county jail during court proceedings.

California has two prisons for women (2.5 if you count the training facility they have for them next to the prisons in Folsom). CIW, where she is, is in Southern California. The other women's prison is CCWF in Chowchilla.

quote:

Having the later month come before an earlier month of the the same year is common? Why?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Dyslexia is common in California. Does this bother you?

quote:

Originally posted by SigSAC:
According to public records, she is still in the same prison. She would probably only get moved to a county jail during court proceedings.

California has two prisons for women (2.5 if you count the training facility they have for them next to the prisons in Folsom). CIW, where she is, is in Southern California. The other women's prison is CCWF in Chowchilla.

Well at least it gets her out of the "House" once in a while.

She's already a lifer, so not much else can be done to her. Life plus 20? I know, do what Sipowicz did to this guy.

Why waste MORE taxpayer’s dollars on this. If convicted will they keep her in prison after she dies?

There was billions in fraud from COVID relief. $2mm is peanuts.

Not much incentive for lifers to behave themselves, especially when it's non-violent crimes. What are they gonna do? Throw her in the hole for a while? Cut out a meal per day? Maybe they could make it harder for prisoners to commit fraud in the outside world.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The BOP has ways. You can severely limit interaction with the outside world. Serve them Federal meat loaf {Food of all types is ground up and served as a loaf} and provide bus therapy. Limiting time out of their cell is another. I assume state prisons have their ways as well. Being incarcerated is quite unpleasant.

This prosecution is a waste of time. Spend the time and money investigating the system to see how this could happen, and hold the bureaucrats responsible.

quote:

Originally posted by ElToro:
There was billions in fraud from COVID relief. $2mm is peanuts.

Current estimates are $31B in fraud in CA alone.

Crazy.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:

quote:

Originally posted by ElToro:
There was billions in fraud from COVID relief. $2mm is peanuts.

Current estimates are $31B in fraud in CA alone.

Crazy.

8.5 Billion in Michigan. Yet many people that were actually eligible had to fight tooth and nail to get their relief.