District Woman Found Guilty Of Federal Charges For Illegally Collecting Unemployment BenefitsDefendant Submitted Claims While Working At A Government Agency

     WASHINGTON – Brianna Meadows, 32, of Washington, D.C., has been found guilty by a jury of federal charges stemming from a scheme to defraud the District of Columbia Department of Employment Services of more than $14,000 in unemployment benefits, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. and Andrew G. McCabe, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

     Meadows was found guilty on Dec. 22, 2014 of four counts of wire fraud, one count of theft of government funds, and one count of first-degree theft. The verdict followed a trial in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The Honorable Amy Berman Jackson scheduled sentencing for March 11, 2015.

     The government’s evidence at trial established that Meadows submitted 49 false claims to the District of Columbia Department of Employment Services from May 2009 through April 2010, indicating that she was unemployed, when, in fact, she was working full time for a private contractor doing work at a government agency in Maryland. She submitted more than two dozen of those claims from a computer terminal at the agency, the evidence showed.

     In announcing the verdict, U.S. Attorney Machen and Assistant Director in Charge McCabe commended the work of those who investigated the case from the FBI’s Washington Field Office.  They expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the District of Columbia Department of Employment Services. They acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialists Donna Galindo and Lesley Slade; Information Technology Specialist Jeanie Latimore-Brown, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jelahn Stewart, who assisted in the investigation. Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Seth B. Waxman and Mervin A. Bourne, Jr., who prosecuted the case.