This story, originally published at 6:12 p.m. on Feb. 21, 2024, was updated at 10:18 a.m. on Feb. 22, 2024 to add how many years each family member will be sentenced to, per their plea agreements.
A Rockville family pleaded guilty in a scheme to steal identities and use them to submit fraudulent unemployment insurance claims during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Maryland Attorney General’s Office has announced.
Kelvin Konadu Ntim Boadu, 27, and his parents, Cindy Thompson Boadu, 48, and Kwame Boadu, 53, filed at least 38 fraudulent unemployment claims from June to July 2020 in the names of people whose identifies they stole, the Attorney General’s Office said Tuesday in a press release.
All three family members lived in the same apartment on Veirs Mill Road, according to digital court records.
Based on the claims, the Maryland Department of Labor sent the family more than $200,000 in benefits on debit cards. The funding was part of billions of dollars that the federal government allocated to states for people who were suddenly unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Attorney General’s Office said.
The family then spent the money for their “personal benefit,” even though the funds were supposed to go to unemployed individuals who needed it, the Attorney General’s Office said.
The three family members each pleaded guilty in the Baltimore City Circuit Court to one count of theft by deception, with a value over $100,000; one count of conspiracy to commit theft by deception, with a value of over $100,000; and four counts of identity fraud, which are all felonies, the Attorney General’s Office stated.
Kelvin Boadu is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 29. A sentencing hearing for Kwame and Cindy Boadu is set for July 22. As part of their sentences, the trio will have to pay around $222,000 in restitution to the state labor department, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
As part of their plea deals, Kelvin Boadu will be sentenced to 10 years in prison, suspend all but 3 months, and 5 years of supervised probation, and Cindy and Kwame Boadu will be sentenced to 10 years in prison, suspend all but 2 months, and 5 years of supervised probation, according to Attorney General’s Office spokesperson Thomas Lester.
The statutory maximum for Theft & Conspiracy to commit theft is 20 years and for ID Fraud is 5 years, Lester said.
Cindy Boadu’s attorney, Thomas Mooney, could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon. Kwame Boadu’s attorney, John J. Pikulski IV, declined to comment and Kelvin Konadu Ntim Boadu’s attorneys, Michael Lawlor and John McKenna, did not respond to a request for comment.