Monterey, CA…Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni announced that in a sweeping effort to battle pandemic-related fraud in Monterey County, indictments have been unsealed against 29 people. The indictments were found true by a Monterey County Grand Jury on April 30th after they heard five days of evidence. The indictments included 21 individuals who applied for and received unemployment insurance while in custody in the Monterey County Jail. The remaining eight indictments were returned against individuals who, while not incarcerated, conspired with the inmates to commit the fraud. Out of the 29 persons indicted, 12 have previous serious or violent felony convictions making them subject to the ‘three strikes’ law. Several defendants are scheduled to be arraigned today.

The 29 defendants are charged with multiple felonies including conspiracy, making fraudulent statements in unemployment insurance applications, and money laundering. The total fraud involved in this case exceeds $360,000. Indicting 29 defendants in a single grand jury proceeding rather than by multiple separate preliminary hearings throughout the courthouse preserved court resources, strained due to backlog from the pandemic.

Emergency Federal and State Unemployment Insurance Benefits were made available through the California Employment Development Department (EDD) to assist people during the pandemic. To respond to the crisis, the EDD dispensed with many standard application vetting practices. Consequently, many people fraudulently took advantage of the emergency to apply for benefits they were not entitled to receive. In July of last year, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office and Salinas Police Department learned of widespread fraud involving inmates at the Monterey County Jail applying for and receiving unemployment benefits for periods during which they were incarcerated. Persons in jail or prison are not “available to work” and are therefore ineligible for unemployment assistance.

District Attorney Pacioni created a task force which included the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, Salinas Police Department, Monterey Police Department, and CSUMB Police. The task force, with assistance from state EDD investigators, continues to identify those who illegally took advantage of the pandemic. More arrests and charges are expected from the multi-agency task force.

Below is a list of those persons indicted by the Grand Jury:
Daniel Lee Rosbach, age 29 of Salinas
Heather Louise Rosbach, age 33 of Castroville
Luciano Ramirez, age 34 of Salinas
Mayra Rodriguez Guzman, age 29 of Salinas
Davian Derrell Jones, age 29 of Lancaster
Jeraline Diana Jones, age 27 of Lancaster
Diondre Lamon Rodriguez, age 49 of Seaside
Shayna Dawn Kisling-Bowman, age 42 of Marina
Daniel Michael Birchell, age 34 of Monterey
Amanda Kari Marie Agloro, age 33 of Seaside
Justin Allen Casey, age 32 of Seaside
Rafael Valencia, age 25 of Salinas
Rubie Marie Jimenez, age 32 of Soledad,
Tracy Dyan Rhodes, age 34 of Salinas
Daniel Aaron Contreras, age 28 of Brisbane
Andrew Magana, age 32 of Salinas
Kevin Anthony Hall, age 28 of Marina
Josephine G Hall, age 52 of Marina
Michael Eugene Fuller, age 23 of Fresno
Christian Isaiah Foster, age 22 of Fresno
Amber Dawn Umbarger, age 40 of Los Osos
Brian Zuniga, age 26 of King City
Antonio DeLuna, age 22 of Salians
Arcadio Benito Perezruiz, age 25 of Salinas
Ralph Salvador Apodaca, age 40 of Salinas
Oscar Benitez, age 22 of Salinas
Javier Morales Vaca, age 42 of Watsonville
Adrien Olivas, age 34 of Salinas
Tirrell Deshaun Butler, age 32 of Stockton