Sacramento Man Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft in Connection with Covid-Related Unemployment Insurance Fraud Scheme

Roosevelt Gulley III, 41, of Sacramento, pleaded guilty today to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced.

According to court documents, from July through September 2020, Gulley participated in a Covid-fraud scheme targeting the Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefit program administered by the California Employment Development Department (EDD). He collected personally identifiable information, including names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and other information, and electronically submitted fraudulent applications for UI benefits to the California EDD in those persons’ identities. He electronically submitted at least 79 of these fraudulent applications to California EDD, which resulted in UI benefits debit cards being mailed to addresses he listed in the fraudulent applications. Gulley then retrieved the debit cards and removed money from them at various ATMs. The government alleges that the actual loss attributed to this fraudulent scheme was more than $575,000, with an intended loss exceeding $1.5 million.

Read the entire press release. U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of California, September 15, 2025

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