Identity theft, fraud lead to prison for Florida man

FLORIDA – A Florida man has been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit COVID-related unemployment insurance fraud and identity theft, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida has announced.

Steve Aloysius Moodie, Jr., 35, of Tampa, has been sentenced to five years and 10 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

As part of his sentence, the court also ordered Moodie to pay $1,070,647 in restitution, jointly with co-defendant Melinda Sue Hernandez, 33, of Ruskin, to the various state workforce agencies they defrauded. Moodie pleaded guilty on September 19, 2022.

Hernandez was previously sentenced to 42 months in federal prison for her role in the conspiracy.

According to court documents, from approximately June 2020 through April 2021, Moodie and Hernandez obtained personal identifying information (PII) of others without their knowledge. Hernandez was employed as a medical assistant at a Tampa Bay area hospital and reportedly gained access to patient PII, which she used to further the scheme.

Moodie is said to have used that PII and that of others to submit, and cause to be submitted, false and fraudulent unemployment insurance (UI) claims to various state workforce agencies to obtain UI benefits. These UI benefits were reportedly transferred to bank accounts or loaded onto debit cards issued in the names of others.

Moodie and Hernandez then reportedly used and attempted to use the fraudulently obtained debit cards to withdraw money from ATMs. Law enforcement said it calculated the total intended loss caused by the fraudulent UI claims to be between $1.5 million and $3.5 million.

This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Assistant United States Attorney Greg Pizzo prosecuted it.