FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
January 17, 2012	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 2:10-cr-97 JAM

            SACRAMENTO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced today that United States District Judge John A. Mendez sentenced Yvette Compito, 44, of Santa Clarita, to four years and three months in prison and Karamoko Goodman, 37, of Lancaster, to four years in prison for conspiring to commit unemployment insurance fraud.

According to court documents, from January 2000 to January 2007 Compito and Goodman operated a “fictitious employer” scheme. They established 13 fake business for the sole purpose of reporting false wages for approximately 150 individuals to the California Employment Development Department. They then filed unemployment claims based on the fake wages, collecting over $800,000 in unemployment insurance benefits over the course of the conspiracy. The defendants regularly used children’s identities as “employees” of the fake companies to avoid law enforcement detection. A minor’s claim was unlikely to conflict in the EDD system because a child is unlikely to have conflicting wages reported by a legitimate employer.

Previously in this case, Jesse Davis received a two-year prison sentence. Shanema McQueen was sentenced to 12 months and one day (50 percent to be served in custody; 50 percent to be served on home detention). LaJamaal Brumfield was sentenced to 8 months (4 months in prison; 4 months home detention).

This case was the product of an investigation by the United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General and the Employment Development Department, Criminal Investigations Division. Assistant United States Attorney Jared C. Dolan prosecuted the case.

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