A Sacramento woman was allegedly behind what the district attorney says is the largest Employment Development Department fraud scheme Sacramento County has ever seen, KTLA sister station KTXL reports.
Jamie Williams-Major, 35, faces a total of 166 counts — one for each of the fraudulent unemployment claims she filed with the state, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.
In total, the scheme amounted to over $2.75 million, the DA’s office reported Tuesday.
Williams-Major allegedly used the names and identifying information of California inmates and other victims to file the false claims with the EDD.
She was first arrested at her job back in April 2021, along with six inmates. The DA’s office said two of the people Williams-Major was arrested with were already facing murder charges and several of them had prior gang-related convictions.
At the time, the Sacramento County DA’s Office said investigators believed the group was behind a $250,000 EDD fraud scheme. But searches of Williams-Major’s Laramie Lane home and cell phone led to the discovery of fraudulent paperwork and credit card evidence.
“Law enforcement discovered the fraud was 10 times bigger than first suspected,” the DA’s office wrote in a news release.
Williams-Major was arrested again on Jan. 6 while in Las Vegas. She’s since been booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail where jail records show she is ineligible for bail.
She is expected to be arraigned in court Wednesday afternoon.