Stimulus Check Fraud: California Mom Pleads Guilty to $145K Scam With Son on Death Row

A mother from Modesto, California, has admitted guilt in committing stimulus check fraud by filing thousands of claims, costing more than $145,200, using the identities of different people.

Sheila Denise Dunlap told a judge that she obtained the personal identifiable information (PII) of more than 9,000 people from her son, identified in the court records as D.W., who has been serving time as a Death Row inmate at the San Quentin State Prison.

The California mom said the PII also had the names of her son's fellow prisoners, who could qualify for the stimulus check. A provision in the payment rollout under the CARES Act of the federal government, signed in March 2020, included the Economic Impact Payments (EIP) for low-income earners who filed their previous tax returns in 2018 and 2019, as well as non-filers who have children.

Read Also: $600 Stimulus Check Approved for Low-Wage Workers in Oregon

How She Carried Out the Stimulus Check Fraud

Thus, between March 2020 to July 2020, when the stimulus check payments were distributed to help Americans during the pandemic, Dunlap applied for EIP amounting to $1,200 per adult and $500 per child. She used the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) online portal and then coursed all payments to her bank account via Bank of America.

The mother relayed that her son and another person provided her with the spreadsheet containing actual identities that belonged to other people, such as names and social security numbers. They coordinated with each other through text messages and phone calls.

She was instructed to first file EIP claims using the identifications of the youngest adults or college students on the spreadsheet as this will likely not trigger the IRS system. They assumed that these young individuals did not have any existing tax records and thus were non-filers.

On March 28, 2020, Dunlap received the first five payments on her assigned bank account. This emboldened her to run the scheme and submit more filings as the system was quick and easy. Dunlap said that she was able to file and collect 121 claims in total.

As a result of pleading guilty to her crime, Dunlap could be in prison for 20 years and slapped with a fine of $250,000. She is due to attend her sentencing in June 2022.

Son Identified as Child Murderer

Meanwhile, reports from the Sacramento Bee indicated that Dunlop's son on Death Row is Darnell Williams, who was convicted of murdering a 7-year-old girl and a 22-year-old man in a revenge shooting in 2013. Williams had a target on the child because her father, Anthony Medearis, was a snitch.

Williams told the court that his parents were often imprisoned as his dad was a drug addict and his mother committed fraud and forgery during his trial. While his parents were locked up, Williams lived in foster care, group homes, and his maternal grandmother's house.

While he was an athletic kid and was accepted in a private school as a quarterback, Williams was kicked out at 14 years old for fighting with the school staff. His mother said that her son had several arrests as a young child, especially when she was in jail.

"He'd rather be in jail because I would be in jail," the mother said.

 Related Article: IRS Disables Child Tax Credit Portal for Low-Income Families