COLUMBUS, Ohio–A Columbus woman, as well as her mother and boyfriend, are each facing several felony charges for fraudulently obtaining $1.9 million in pandemic benefits while two of them worked for the state’s unemployment office. Rashanna Burley, 24, and her mother Velma Cain, 48, each improperly approved numerous claims for benefits filed in 2020 and 2020, and/or removed flags for fraud placed on the claims by others, and backdated claims so that more money would be paid out, according to a report from the Ohio Inspector General’s office. Many of the claims were filed in the names of relatives of Burley and Cain, imprisoned Ohioans, or fictitious people who didn’t exist; much of the money was sent to bank accounts controlled by Burley or addresses connected with them. Investigators say some of the fraudulent claims were submitted by Burley’s boyfriend, 25-year-old Kyson Murphy, a suburban Columbus man sentenced earlier this month to up to 16.5 years in prison for his role in the robbery and fatal shooting of Columbus rapper “Boog the Bandit.” Murphy was indicted Wednesday along with Burley and Cain on several felony counts connected to the unemployment fraud scheme. Burley worked as an intermittent customer service representative for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services between Dec. 15, 2020, and Jan. 13, 2021, when she was fired after ODJFS says she had accessed 20 fraudulent claims. Less than a week later, on Jan. 19, 2021, ODJFS hired Cain for the same position Burley held. Cain held the job until early January 2022, around the same time the FBI notified ODJFS they had received an anonymous tip that Burley had wrongly authorized benefits claims, according to the inspector general report. Burley and Murphy are charged in Franklin County Common Pleas Court with theft, telecommunications fraud, tampering with records, money laundering, and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. Cain faces the same charges, as well as an additional felony charge of theft in office. Court records did not show attorneys on file for Burley, Cain, or Murphy as of Friday. Unemployment fraud became a major problem during the COVID-19 pandemic, as state officials were flooded with claims and the federal government loosened verification requirements in order to pay out billions of dollars as quickly as possible. Between March 2020 and March 2022, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services paid scammers $527 million in benefits. While most of those scammers are believed to live abroad in countries like Nigeria, a handful of other state unemployment office workers have also been indicted for using their positions to fraudulently obtain a windfall in pandemic benefits. Jeremy Pelzer covers state politics and policy for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.
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