Woman accused of stealing Scott Peterson’s identify for unemployment fraud
A woman has been arrested on suspicion of stealing the identities of convicted killers Scott Peterson and Cary Stayner in just one of tens of thousands of unemployment fraud cases that has cost California at least $20 billion.
The woman is accused of filing more than $145,000 in fraudulent unemployment benefits from California’s Employment Development Department, according to the California Department of Justice.
The Department did not release her name but NBC News Bay Area identified her as 43-year-old Brandy Iglesias.
The benefits were collected between 2020 and 2021 in her own name as well as through the identities of Peterson and Stayner, who have been incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison since 2005 and 2002, respectively.
Iglesias is believed to have gained access to prisoners’ personal information through her employer, a private company that contracted with the prison.
She was arrested Saturday by a team of CDCR agents in Contra Costa County and booked into the Sacramento County Jail on suspicion of multiple counts of felony grand theft and forgery. She was arraigned on Wednesday in Sacramento County Superior Court.
California DOJ’s Criminal Law Division, Special Prosecutions Section, is prosecuting the case.
“Don’t let the infamous names distract you from who this crime really hurt — the most vulnerable in our society,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a press release. “EDD theft hurts families in need, parents left without jobs during a pandemic, and Californians struggling to get by.”
The $20 million in fraudulent benefits account for 11% of the total benefits paid from 2020 to 2021. The vast majority of them were from the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, according to EDD.
Stayner was convicted of killing four women in Yosemite National Park, and Peterson was convicted of killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner.
When the fraud was first announced in November 2020, the names of Peterson and Stayner were used as high-profile examples of 35,000 claims that had been filed on behalf of state prison inmates, but prosecutors could not clarify at the time whether they were suspected of committing the fraud.
Peterson’s sister-in-law, Janey Peterson, said at the time that he unfairly became the “poster child” for the national story, and his attorney said he would be cleared of having any part in the fraud.
Peterson is on the verge of learning if he will get a new murder trial based on his claim of juror misconduct.
This story was originally published October 20, 2022 at 11:57 AM with the headline "Woman accused of stealing Scott Peterson’s identify for unemployment fraud."
