SCRANTON, PA — The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that on June 2, 2023, Pedro Hernandez-Romero, age 30, a citizen of Mexico, was sentenced to 27 months’ imprisonment and a one-year term of supervised release, by United States District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani, for the crimes of aggravated identity theft, social security account number fraud and illegal reentry of a previously removed alien.
According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, on July 9, 2020, Hernandez-Romero, a previously deported alien, using the name, date of birth, and social security number of a U.S. citizen, applied for and ultimately received $25,176 in Pennsylvania Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits to which he was not entitled. Further investigation revealed that, using the same stolen identity, Hernandez-Romero applied for and received $1,950 in traditional unemployment benefits. At his sentencing, Hernandez-Romero was also ordered to pay $27,134.00 in restitution to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.
This matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) and by the United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations. Assistant United States Attorney Jeffery St John prosecuted the case.
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