“Investigators in the California EDD Investigation Division have their work cut out for them as they look into unscrupulous and law-breaking individuals who think unemployment benefits are theirs for the taking.  We thank California EDD investigators for their continued efforts to protect public funds.”

CSLEA President Alan Barcelona

LOS ANGELES – On April 24, 2025, a Kern County man and three of his sisters were sentenced to federal prison terms for participating in a scheme in which they created nonexistent businesses and then claimed more than $1.1 million in unemployment benefits for purported employees of those fake businesses. 

United States District Judge John A. Kronstadt sentenced the following members of the same family:

• Evelyn Taylor, 41, of South Los Angeles, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison;
• Laron Taylor, 38, of California City, was sentenced to 54 months in federal prison;
• Latrice Taylor, 42, of Buena Park, was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison; and
• Raschell Taylor, 35, of San Bernardino, was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison.

The defendants were ordered to pay $567,334 in restitution.

At the conclusion of a six-day trial in July 2024, a jury found each of the Taylors guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

From February 2013 to July 2016, the Taylor defendants, along with their co-conspirators, stole $1.1 million in unemployment insurance benefits from the California Employment Development Department (EDD). The Taylors created and registered fake companies with EDD – typically using the names of clothes cleaning services – with no real business or real employees – and submitted fraudulent unemployment claims in their own and others’ names, sometimes using stolen identities; and withdrew cash using different EDD-funded debit cards from numerous ATMS across the greater Los Angeles area.

In total, the defendants fraudulently obtained approximately $1,106,282 in unemployment insurance benefits.

The United States Department of Labor Office of Inspector General and the California Employment Development Department Investigation Division investigated this matter, with assistance from the United States Postal Inspection Service and U.S. Marshals Service.

The Taylors are the second set of defendants to be sentenced for participating in this fraud scheme. Catrina Gipson, 49, of Moreno Valley, in February 2023 was sentenced to 54 months in prison; and Vernisha Jolivet, 32, of Ripley, was sentenced in May 2022 to six months in federal prison.