A former Guam Department of Labor employee has been charged in the District Court of Guam with fraud.

It’s a federal program stood-up to help the thousands of island residents who were left unemployed, furloughed, and who suffered reduced hours as a result of the COVID pandemic. But for Jerome Michael Cruz he didn’t fit into any of those categories, instead he was a full-time employee at the Guam Department of Labor as a Customer Service Representative. Cruz in his position had access to GDOL’s computer systems to make, approve and modify Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation claims.

According to court documents in September of last year Cruz, while fully employed at GDOL, submitted an application for FPUC and PUA benefits. He lied that he was unemployed and was eligible for benefits under the federal programs. He was able to receive almost $11,000 in benefits he was not entitled to.

The following month in October 2020, Cruz was transferred within GDOL. Court documents state he lost access to the PUA and FPUC computer system but then used the login credentials of another GDOL employee to access the online system.

Cruz modified an existing PUA claim for another person to change the payment method from paper check to direct deposit and to route the benefits to a bank account he controlled. As a result he was able to obtain a little over $2,400 in fraudulent benefits.

In total Cruz was able to obtain $13,350 in fraudulent benefits, but according to court documents he tried to obtain an additional $80,000.

Guam Department of Labor Director David Dell’Isolla says he was fully aware of the investigation, because it was his staff that informed and forwarded the case about Cruz to the Federal Bureau of Investigations. “I thank the entire efforts of my staff that tirelessly put all this information together so the feds can move on this,” said Dell’Isola. 

The director adds that his agency has always wanted to show that they are doing their due diligence to combat fraud “I hope this will be a reminder to the island that this is federal funds and this is not be to be taken lightly”. Dell’Isola thanked the FBI, the Attorney General’s Office and USDOL’s Office of Inspector General for their collaboration and ongoing efforts to catch and crackdown on fraud.

Cruz has entered into a plea agreement and is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrates Judge Michael Bordallo on Thursday. He has agreed to plead guilty to charges of Federal Program Theft and Accessing Protected Computer in Furtherance of Fraud.