Irvington man sentenced to prison for unemployment fraud

NEWARK, NJ — A former U.S. Postal Service employee was sentenced to 13 months in prison for conspiring to fraudulently obtain unemployment insurance benefits, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced Sept. 22.

Ross Clayton, 31, of Irvington, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Julien X. Neals to an information charging him with conspiring to commit wire fraud. Neals imposed the sentence Sept. 21 in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court, Clayton, then a USPS employee, took unemployment insurance benefits–related mail, including debit cards, from a USPS location in New Jersey. He used that mail to obtain unemployment insurance benefits to which he was not entitled.

In addition to the prison term, Neals sentenced Clayton to two years of supervised release and ordered him to pay restitution in the amount of $53,321.05 and forfeiture in the amount of $28,397.49.

  Fraud, Sentencing, U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Postal Service