Taneytown man sentenced to five years for fraudulent COVID-related unemployment claims

A Taneytown man was sentenced to five years in prison after he pled guilty to filing fraudulent unemployment insurance claims during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Maryland Attorney General’s office said in a news release Thursday.

Leslie Awulley Quaye, 25, of Taneytown, pled guilty to one count of felony theft by deception with a value of over $100,000 and two counts of felony identity fraud in Baltimore Circuit Court on Dec. 12, 2023, the news release states. In addition to the five years of prison, Quaye is required to finish five years of probation and pay $41,905.32 in restitution to the Maryland Department of Labor.

In July 2020, Quaye filed several fraudulent unemployment claims under different identities after the federal government allocated money toward sudden unemployment caused by the pandemic. From July 2020 to October 2020, Quaye assumed the identity of at least 10 people to obtain unemployment benefits, according to indictment documents obtained by The Baltimore Sun.

“By filing these fraudulent unemployment claims, Quaye caused the Maryland Department of Labor to distribute over $140,000 in bogus unemployment insurance benefits onto bank debit cards,” the release states.

“The bottom line is the Attorney General’s office recognized that in this conspiracy that Mr. Quaye was an outlier,” Craig Kadish, the lawyer representing Quaye, said in an interview with The Sun. “He was a dupe. He got duped to go in and participate and the court sentencing reflected that.”

Quaye was indicted in June alongside three others for filing fraudulent unemployment claims. The fraudulent claims amongst the four indicted totaled over $700,000, a June news release states.

Cindy Boadu, Kelvin Boadu and Kwame Boadu, all of Rockville, were each charged with theft over $100,000 and conspiracy to commit theft scheme over $100,000, the indictment records show. Additionally, the three of them were charged with 38 counts of identity fraud and 38 counts of conspiracy to commit identity fraud.

The Boadu’s are all being charged together and their case is still ongoing. Quaye was charged separately. It is unknown whether or not Quaye and the Boadu’s knew each other.

“The defendants not only violated the rights of innocent individuals whose identities were exploited, they undermined vital safety nets intended to support Marylanders who faced adversity during COVID-19,” Attorney General Brown said at the time of the indictment.

“Attorney General Brown thanked Assistant Attorney General Alyn Pearson and investigative auditor Amy Amy for their hard work on this case, as well as the Beacon team at the Division of Unemployment Insurance and the Maryland Department of Labor,” the Thursday release said.