Press Release  Plymouth Man Pleads Guilty to Pandemic Unemployment Fraud

A 43-year-old Plymouth man will serve six months in the House of Corrections after pleading guilty to fraudulently collecting pandemic unemployment benefits yesterday in Suffolk Superior Court.

Aaron Fernandes pleaded guilty to 3 counts of larceny over $1200, 2 counts of unemployment fraud, 1 count of identity fraud, and 1 count of conspiracy to commit larceny.  A Suffolk Superior Court judge also imposed three years of probation and ordered him to pay $44,823 in restitution to the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance upon completion of his jail sentence. 

The charges against Mr. Fernandes’s co-defendants, Rebecca Holmes and Katherine Quigley, are still pending.

The three were charged as a result of a joint investigation by the Attorney General’s Office and the Office of the Inspector General, which stemmed from a complaint to the OIG’s Fraud Hotline.  The case was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Insurance and Unemployment Fraud Division.

“The overwhelming need for these funds in the wake of a global pandemic and the speed with which they were dispersed did create opportunities for fraud,” Inspector General Jeffrey S. Shapiro said.  “I am grateful to the Attorney General and her team for their continued efforts to hold those who took advantage of that opportunity accountable. The OIG remains committed to pursuing allegations of fraud and we are indebted to members of the public who contact our fraud hotline.”

If you suspect fraud, waste or abuse of public resources, please contact the OIG’s Fraud Hotline at 800-322-1323 or IGO-FightFraud@mass.gov.

See the press release from the arraignment.

###