A New Jersey man was sentenced to 18 years in prison for fraudulently obtaining almost $1.5 million in unemployment checks, one of the largest such frauds in state history.
Terry Dilligard Jr., 39, was the mastermind behind a vast criminal conspiracy that ran from August 2006 through November 2010 and involved 30 other people, including his father, mother and twin sister, and a network of dummy bank accounts to gather the checks. At least 100 bogus accounts were created.
Some of the numbers were obtained through voter registration canvassing. Dilligard and his accomplices then submitted false claims using real numbers and names but with false addresses and work histories.
“Dilligard committed one of the largest thefts ever from a government assistance program in New Jersey, so it is just that he is receiving one of the longest prison sentences ever imposed for such a crime,” said Acting Attorney General John Hoffman.
The fraud was only uncovered when a debit card company that Dilligard was using noted suspicious activity in the accounts. This included benefits for multiple recipients going into the same account, as well as the fact that several of those recipients were dead. The company then tipped off authorities.
Dilligard pled guilty in April to charges of theft by deception and money laundering and was sentenced on Friday by Superior Court Judge Timothy P. Lydon. He also pled guilty to defrauding Atlantic City’s Harrah’s Resort and Casino of $165,000 in a separate fraud.
Dilligard’s father, Terry Sr., 60, was a former LeLand, Fla., city commissioner who obtained Social Security numbers registering voters during his election runs. Nine were used by his son to submit phony claims that ultimately paid $175,000.
Prosecutors have not said where the other names and numbers used in the fraud came from. “I can’t provide more specific information on where Dilligard obtained the stolen identities,” Peter Aseltine, spokesman for the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office told the Washington Examiner.
The fraud coincided with a period in which unemployment spiked in the Garden State following the 2008 financial crisis. The rate, which fell as low as 4.2 percent in 2007, reached a high of 9.8 percent in late 2009.
At the time claims for benefits could be submitted over the phone or through the Internet. Facing a surge in applications and political pressure to provide relief, the state labor department did little to verify the information, according t0 local media reports.
Dilligard’s mother, 59, and twin sister, 38, both named Janice, were convicted in 2013 for their roles in the fraud and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Charges remain pending against Terry Dilligard Sr.
