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Detectives armed with a search warrant found Latoyia McCollum, 46, of Hillside in the kitchen of an undisclosed location "placing what appeared to be a credit/debit card into the shredder" while face-timing on a cellphone in October 2020, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said.
McCollum told them she was on the phone with Maurice Mills, of Union Township, who "instructed her to shred the credit/debit cards," Honig said.
Mills had stolen identities to illegally collect unemployment benefits funded by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the U.S. attorney said.
The benefits were "provided on a credit/debit card or by wire transfer into a bank account, where a debit card could then be used to withdraw the money," she said.
McCollum took a deal from the government rather than face trial, pleading guilty to obstruction of justice during a videoconference on Wednesday, Honig said.
U.S. District Judge Brian Martinotti scheduled sentencing for March 16, 2022.
Mills had already pleaded guilty himself, to wire fraud, this past September. Martinotti scheduled his sentencing for Feb. 2, 2022.
Honig credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General in Manhattan, as well as Newark-based special agents of the FBI, postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and special agents of the U.S. Secret Service. She also thanked the New York State Department of Labor, Office of Special Investigations for its assistance.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Kogan of her Cybercrime Unit in Newark secured the pleas for the government, Honig said.
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