LA County Workers Charged in Over $700K Pandemic Fraud Bust – RedState

What’s in Los Angeles? Is there something in the water? The ancient City of Angels seems to be rushing from scandal to scandal, from crisis to crisis. From the Pacific Palisades fire, which occurred while Mayor Karen Bass was in Ghana (why Ghana? What possible purpose could the mayor of Los Angeles have in visiting Ghana?), to the city’s growing homeless encampments, this once glamorous city is suffering greatly.

Some city officials seem to want to cash in while they can. On Friday, we learned that 11 more City of Los Angeles employees were arrested for their involvement in a COVID unemployment fraud scheme involving more than $700,000.

Yes.

Eleven more Los Angeles County employees have been charged with grand theft for allegedly stealing unemployment benefits while working full-time during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

The new charges, announced by the office, follow a series of earlier complaints in October against 13 county employees accused of similar conduct. In total, prosecutors say 24 employees fraudulently received a total of $741,518 in unemployment benefits between 2020 and 2023.

District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said his office intends to pursue these cases aggressively. “My office will relentlessly continue to root out fraud and pursue government employees who steal from the public they serve,” Hochman said in a statement provided by the district attorney’s office. While most county employees “perform their duties ethically,” he said, those who “exploit the system and betray the public trust” will be prosecuted.

I hope the prosecutor pursues these cases aggressively. It would be nice if they showed the same enthusiasm for imprisoning thieves and instigators of street assaults, to name just a few examples.

Discover the names and positions of some of the accused:

Those charged include:

• Alejandro Mendez Albarado, senior equipment maintenance worker for the Sheriff’s Department, accused of stealing $21,866 between June and December 2021.
• Brandon Joseph Batiste, Public Works warehouse worker, accused of stealing $9,349 between May and November 2021.
• Dina Liza Wolf, a licensed professional nurse with the Department of Health Services, accused of stealing $11,700 from January 2022 to April 2023.
• Elizabeth Jacinto, eligibility officer for Public Social Services, accused of stealing $11,700 between May and November 2021.
• Jessica Alcorta, a paralegal with the District Attorney’s Office, accused of stealing $36,150 between December 2020 and September 2022.
• Khristine Louise Canero, relief nurse at Health Services, accused of stealing $11,700 from June to December 2021.
• Manuel Martinez, health services electrician, accused of stealing $11,700 between December 2020 and January 2022.
• Racheal Nalutaaya, Health Services nursing assistant, accused of stealing $23,400 between September 2021 and March 2022.
• Soo Manai, a licensed professional healthcare nurse, accused of stealing $11,829 between December 2021 and March 2022.
• Probation Department Detention Services Officer Terry Beasley II, accused of stealing $11,700 from September 2022 to April 2023.

Note the positions they occupied.

Learn more: Man allegedly attacked federal building in Los Angeles with Molotov cocktails

Was Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass just caught lying about rebuilding after the Pacific Palisades fire?

The defendants hold a range of positions, but there are a few who stand out, like Elizabeth Jacinto, an eligible public welfare worker. She is accused of stealing $11,700. If she is, as her title suggests, responsible at least in part for determining the eligibility of applicants for social services – then what else has she done? We can hope that the prosecutor subpoenas his financial records. And then there’s Terry Beasely II, a detention services officer with the Probation Department. In other words, someone who deals with criminals on probation. And he is corrupt, prosecutors say.

These are, once again, people that the taxpayers of the City of Los Angeles have placed in a position of trust. If found guilty, they have unforgivably betrayed that trust, shown themselves to be nothing more than parasites, and they should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.

Editor’s note: Help us continue to expose the truth about corrupt politicians and officials like these in Los Angeles.

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