LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A California man originally arrested in Las Vegas is pleading guilty to unemployment insurance benefits fraud.
According to the Justice Department, Las Vegas police officers stopped 32-year-old Breon Dante Mims who was walking along Las Vegas Boulevard and smoking a blunt.
This was in September 2020.
Court documents state during that stop, officers asked Mims if they could look in his backpack and they found over $10,000 in cash and 10 California Employment Development Department unemployment benefits cards. Officers said none of them were in Mims' name.
In court, Mims said he used the cards and submitted unemployment claims associated with those cards without authorization.
Records show at least $261,600 in benefits were approved for the unemployment claims associated with the cards.
Police said Mims withdrew at least $77,000 from various ATMs in Nevada and California.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 25.
If convicted, Mims is facing up to 15 years in prison.
