Friday, Feb. 17, 2023 | 4:17 p.m.
Two men have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud after obtaining nearly $700,000 in benefits using stolen identification, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada.
Luigi Montes, 42, of Texas, and Peter Stincer, 34, of California, pleaded guilty Thursday for a conspiracy to use Nevada and California unemployment insurance benefits debit cards that were issued in other peoples’ names, the attorney’s office said.
Montes and Stincer, alongside co-defendant Alexander Hoyos Rivera of Ohio, conspired to submit fraudulent unemployment insurance claims with the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation and the California Employment Development Department, from March 2020 to January 2021.
They used stolen personal identifying information, including victim names, dates of birth and social security numbers, to defraud both departments. Once the claims were approved and they received unemployment insurance debit cards, the defendants withdrew money from ATMs in various states, including Nevada.
The departments in Nevada and California, as well as other state agencies, approved at least $934,129 in benefits for the fraudulent claims, and the defendants fraudulently obtained at least $698,655 for their personal use, the attorney’s office said.
The FBI investigated the case, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Fang.
Montes and Stincer are scheduled for sentencing June 5. They face a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison, a term of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties, the attorney’s office said.
