COLUMBUS, Ohio – A state subcontractor who was able to access Ohio’s unemployment insurance system for months after his job ended was among those indicted this month for what investigators called a $6.9 million unemployment fraud scheme.Andrew Kerobo only worked on unemployment claims from June 22,2020, until Sept. 5, 2020. Yet he was able to continue accessing the system and releasing funds until Dec. 10, 2020, according to a report from the Ohio Office of the Inspector General. Kerobo enlisted his former teammate on the 2018 Highland Community College varsity football team in Highland, Kansas, Deonta “Tay Ocho” Belser, to recruit people who had submitted pandemic unemployment claims, from which the pair took a cut, the Inspector General’s report states. Belser had transferred to Bowling Green State University and played football there before withdrawing during the pandemic’s beginning in 2020.A grand jury in Franklin County on Dec. 18 indicted Kerobo, Belser and other people who allegedly received fraudulent benefits on felony counts of engaging in corrupt activity, theft, money laundering, tampering with records and telecommunications fraud.On Monday, Belser pleaded not guilty to five felony counts. Kerobo hasn’t enter a plea yet in the case. Attorneys were not listed for either of the men. Court documents list 15 co-defendants in the case.The case harkens back to the schemes and fraud in the unemployment system during the frenetic early days of pandemic, before a vaccine was available and millions of Ohioans and Americans were laid off or furloughed when businesses closed. The federal government gave states billions of dollars via the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program to supplement jobless benefits.Most of the fraud was blamed on overseas scammers, but the state investigators have identified several people they say defrauded the system from within. Kerobo and Belser lived in Ohio when the alleged fraud occurred, the Inspector General’s report states. Sub-sub-contractorA graphic from an Ohio Office of the Inspector General’s report on alleged fraud shows the layers of contracting during the pandemic to review an onslaught of unemployment claims.Ohio Office of the Inspector GeneralKerobo was never a direct employee of the state. Instead, he worked for a sub-sub-contractor. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services contracted with Deloitte Consulting LLP to assist with administering pandemic unemployment benefits, the Inspector General’s report states. Deloitte Consulting hired Harte Hanks Inc. to provide manpower to fulfill the state contract. Harte Hanks subcontracted with staffing agency Randstad US LLC, which hired workers and supervisors. Kerobo was a temporary employee for Randstad US LLC, but was supervised by a Harte Hanks employee, the report states. Kerobo was a seasonal teleservices representative, working remotely from his family’s home in Cincinnati. Kerobo didn’t have authority to resolve issues that could trigger a payment or prevent a claim from being paid, investigators wrote. He was also not permitted to take action to increase or decrease benefits, according to the report, however he was able to access parts of the system that could release funds. In all, Kerobo improperly assessed 448 claims, and released $6,864,263 as a result of manipulated and fabricated claims, the report states. Cleveland.com/ The Plain Dealer reached out to representatives of Deloitte for comment. Deloitte is a prolific state contractor and won lucrative contracts during the pandemic.Bill Teets, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, said in an email that the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program was set up in a matter of weeks, with an emphasis on getting benefits to people in need as quickly as possible. “Over the course of the pandemic, we enhanced our anti-fraud efforts and improved fraud monitoring and prevention processes,” he said. ”For example, we’ve instituted procedures related to the credentialing of employees and contractors accessing our systems, as well as training supervisors to recognize suspicious activity. We also now have a team specifically tasked to review employee access and monitor activity that might involve employees improperly accessing, reviewing, and/or taking action that exceeds their authority on claims.”RecruitmentAccording to the report, Belser had returned to his hometown of Cincinnati after leaving Bowling Green and “was tasked with crowd-sourcing claimants, gathering their information and then relaying that claimant information to Kerobo, who would then search for and access the claim (in a state database) using his login credentials provided to him by Randstad.“Kerobo would then improperly release (Pandemic Unemployment) benefit funds for that claimant,” the report continues. “Both Belser and Kerobo then took from these claimants a percentage of the funds that were improperly released.” When the state discovered the fraud, it notified the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the U.S. Department of Labor. In the 75 days Kerobo was employed, investigators say he searched for, backdated or released money for 13 claims by voiding issues on ineligible claims. That resulted in people receiving $36,803 in previously denied claims, the report states. Investigators say Kerobo arranged for $118,983 in fraudulent benefits deposited onto four prepaid cash cards that were mailed to an apartment he had in Columbus, the report states. Once he received the cards, he kept them for his own personal use.But after his employment ended, investigators say Kerobo still had access to state systems and recruited Belser, his former teammate, to help in the scheme. Most of the benefits the state says Kerobo illegally authorized came after he was no longer employed.Generally, those who were recruited to submit unemployment claims sent money to Belser once they received their benefit. Belser would send a percentage to Kerobo via Cash App or Apple Pay, according to the report.For instance, on Sept. 15, 2020, Kerobo accessed and redetermined an employment claim from someone who had been recruited to be part of the scheme, the report states. That person received the money on Sept. 17, 2020, and sent $2,000 via Cash App to Belser, who then sent $1,000 of that to Kerobo via Cash App, the report states. Laura Hancock covers state government and politics for The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com.
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