In a crackdown on pandemic profiteers, the Illinois Attorney General's Office has bagged a couple of postal pests in a Covid con. Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced the guilty plea of former United States Postal Service employees, Chicago's own Louis K. Lay, Jr., 34, and Erica M. Beck, 36, after they shamelessly pocketed cash from stimulus programs designed to aid struggling Americans during the pandemic.

Quick to cast a wide net, Raoul's charges against Lay and Beck back in June 2022 were part of a sweeping investigation into Postal Service employees cashing in on unemployment insurance benefits while still receiving their regular paychecks, the probe went full throttle collaborating with the FBI and a host of federal and state agencies soon four more Cook County residents were charged as the fraud fest unraveled. Cook County Circuit Court Judge Charles Burns didn't mince words or actions, sentencing Lay to pay $9,500 in restitution and shackle him with two years probation, plus a 180-day stint in the slammer, Beck is on the hook for a $48,600 payback and also received two years of probation.

The cutthroat attitude toward these Covid cash capers is part of a bigger battle, with Raoul declaring, "Individuals who stole from pandemic-era programs defrauded taxpayers and the government at a time many Americans, even friends and neighbors, were experiencing joblessness and in need of assistance," acknowledging the wider societal betrayal these crimes represent. Determined to keep his foot on the gas, Raoul has pledged to keep working with federal and state partners to bring the hammer down on anyone swiping funds from safety nets meant for residents in real need.

The Attorney General is no stranger to fighting unemployment benefits fraud, launching the Attorney General’s Task Force on Unemployment Insurance Benefits Fraud in 2021, this task force buzzes with the FBI and other heavy hitters setting their sights on scammers and schemers, Senior Assistant Attorney General Haley Bookhout manned the battle station for Raoul’s Public Integrity Bureau in the case against the fraudulent couple.