EASTON, Pa. — Three men have been charged with using Northampton County Prison inmates' information to collect $72,000 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, county District Attorney Terry Houck said in a release Friday.
Dominic Ciufo, 31, while an inmate in the prison, worked with Charity Larusso, 48, and Cole Hade, 24, to collect prisoners' information that was used to secure $72,021, the release said.
- The Northampton D.A.'s office announced charges in an alleged scheme involving prisoners and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance fraud.
- The scheme is alleged to have happened between June and August of 2020.
- Three men, including a father and son, are facing charges including mail fraud.
- The total profit from the alleged fraud was $72,021.
The charges came after a federal grand jury indictment in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Ciufo, Larusso and Hade are all of Northampton, according to the release.
The release said specially appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Turzyn, of the Northampton County District Attorney’s Office, arraigned Larusso on Thursday.
Hade is Larusso's son. Hade now has an active warrant for his arrest.
Ciufo is serving time in a New Jersey prison for an unrelated conviction.
According to the D.A.'s office, Ciufo, while imprisoned, used phone and text to send other prisoners' information to Hade and Larusso, who submitted it for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.
The scheme is alleged to have occurred from June 10 to Aug. 24, 2020, according to Houck.
Allegedly, when the money was secured by Larusso, some of it was deposited into prisoners' commissary, and some put on bank cards for the other co-defendants.
"White-collar crime is not taken lightly in any circumstance. These defendants organized a scheme to not only take the personal information of incarcerated individuals, but to selfishly use the money they received for themselves."Northampton County District Attorney Terry Houck
The three men all face the same charges: one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, five counts of mail fraud and one count of theft of public money.
"White-collar crime is not taken lightly in any circumstance," Houck said in the release.
"These defendants organized a scheme to not only take the personal information of incarcerated individuals, but to selfishly use the money they received for themselves.
"The defendants stole currency which should have been sent to those in real need of COVID-19 relief funds.”
The investigation continues, the release said.
