Officials say Darmani Hawkins ’caused a loss of approximately $425,000 in the COVID fraud scheme and more than $700,000 in the stolen check scheme.’
Daermani Hawkins, a 21-year-old man from Aurora, has been given a five-year prison sentence by a federal judge. This decision comes after Hawkins pleaded guilty to participating in a large-scale fraud operation aimed at embezzling over million in COVID-19 relief funds and mail-in checks.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Hawkins pleaded guilty to charges of guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud; conspiracy to commit bank fraud; and mail theft, as part of schemes to fraudulently obtain coronavirus disease (COVID)-era state unemployment benefits and, separately, to steal checks from the mail, alter them, and deposit them.
“During the investigation, officials determined that Hawkins had caused a loss of approximately $425,000 in the COVID fraud scheme and more than $700,000 in the stolen check scheme,” the DOJ noted.
In addition to his prison term, Hawkins was also ordered to pay $681,114.14 in restitution and serve three years of supervised release after imprisonment.
Investigators say “from 2020 through 2021, Hawkins conspired to fraudulently obtain COVID pandemic unemployment insurance benefits by submitting fake claims, and in 2023, he conspired to steal checks out of the United States mail, deposit them, and keep the proceeds.”
“Mr. Hawkins shamelessly exploited federal resources intended to help those who became unemployed as a result of an uncontrollable, life-changing world event. His deceitful actions were selfish and heartless, diverting much-needed funds away from those who lost their jobs through no fault of their own,” said U.S. Attorney Rebecca Lutzko for the Northern District of Ohio. “He also manipulated others to steal checks and misuse our banking system in a greedy effort to make easy money. Those, like Mr. Hawkins, who seek to capitalize on the misfortune of others by abusing federal safety nets established to protect the needy, and who steal from the U.S. taxpayer and private citizens, will be held to account and brought to justice.”
The Justice Department laid out how Hawkins managed the two fraud schemes:
In the COVID fraud scheme, Hawkins and his co-conspirators exploited the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security), which had been established to assist people who were out of work because of the COVID-related shutdown. They submitted false unemployment applications to multiple states, making it appear as if they were eligible to receive benefits when, in fact, they were not. Once a state’s unemployment agency approved the applications, the state mailed the unemployment benefits to Hawkins and his co-conspirators in the form of debit cards, which they used to withdraw cash for their personal benefit.
In the bank fraud and mail theft scheme, Hawkins used a social media platform to recruit postal workers to steal checks from the U.S. Postal Service in exchange for a fee. Hawkins also offered to pay people to use their established bank accounts to deposit the checks stolen from the mail. Those who agreed to participate in mail theft deposited the stolen checks into bank accounts that Hawkins had paid others to allow him to access. Hawkins then withdrew or received the stolen deposited funds.
In addition to his upcoming prison term on federal charges, Hawkins was also indicted by a Cuyahoga County grand jury in September on 15 counts in connection with an alleged check fraud scheme that stole more than $445,000 from various businesses and government entities.
