Ohio Inspector General Investigation Finds Two Former Ohio Department of Job and Family Services’ Intermittent Employees Recruited a Document Forger to Fraudulently Release[...]

OHIO INSPECTOR GENERAL INVESTIGATION FINDS TWO FORMER OHIO DEPARTMENT OF JOB AND FAMILY SERVICES' INTERMITTENT EMPLOYEES RECRUITED A DOCUMENT FORGER TO FRAUDULENTLY RELEASE OVER $300,000 IN PUBLIC UNEMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE FUNDS
Columbus, Ohio, January 9, 2025

In 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased unemployment of millions of Americans, Congress passed various programs to address the crisis, including the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. The PUA program expanded and loosened eligibility unemployment requirements for recipients. Consequently, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS), the agency responsible for distributing PUA benefits in Ohio, received an unprecedented number of unemployment compensation claims. This increase in claims necessitated ODJFS to hire intermittent and temporary contracted workers to process the claims. In fiscal year 2021, ODJFS disbursed approximately $7.6 billion in pandemic unemployment benefits and later, ODJFS identified millions of dollars of the disbursals as fraudulent. To address the rampant fraud connected to the PUA program, an investigative group was established that consisted of the Office of the Ohio Inspector General, Ohio State Highway Patrol, United States Department of Labor - Office of Inspector General, and ODJFS.

On February 15, 2022, ODJFS referred an allegation of wrongdoing to the Office of the Ohio Inspector General involving former ODJFS Intermittent Customer Assistant 2 Kyara Cauthon. The referral alleged that Cauthon took unauthorized actions on Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims resulting in the improper release of PUA funds to ineligible claimants.

Investigators determined that Cauthon improperly inflated claimant incomes without obtaining required documentation to support the reported increases in income. In addition, Cauthon frequently worked with Intermittent Customer Service Representative Alana Hamilton who improperly accessed, changed, and redetermined PUA claims. Investigators obtained records showing that Cauthon paid Hamilton for these services. The actions of Cauthon and Hamilton resulted in a total of $311,943 in PUA benefits improperly paid to claimants. Investigators obtained records indicating that several claimants' benefit cards were mailed directly to Cauthon's home address. Several of these cards were used to make online purchases which included high-end luxury footwear, clothing, and accessories.

The investigation also revealed a relationship between Cauthon and Columbus resident Jasmine Shows. Investigators subpoenaed and reviewed records, and established Cauthon had paid Shows to produce fraudulent documents for her (Cauthon) to upload to PUA claims to meet the document requirements needed to release payments (i.e., proof of employment, income, residency, and disability due to COVID-19). The fraudulent documents included fake pay stubs, fake utility bills, fake tax documents (i.e., W-2s, Form1040s, and Schedule Cs), fake medical documents (COVID-19 tests), and a fake ODJFS letter.

In addition, investigators discovered that Cauthon filed her own claim for PUA benefits for which she was not eligible because she was employed by ODJFS at the time of the filing. Investigators determined Cauthon received $6,291 in improper PUA benefits.

The Office of the Ohio Inspector General is referring this report of investigation to the Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney and the Ohio Auditor of State for consideration.

Ohio Inspector General Report of Investigation file number 2022-CA00007 is now available.