CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte woman pleaded guilty after officials said she fraudulently received $100,000 in COVID-19 relief funds.
Plea documents show that 25-year-old Yesenia Rodriguez admitted to conspiring with another person to receive two COVID-19 relief loans and unemployment benefits totaling over $100,000 from April 2020 through May 2021. Rodriguez applied for a fraudulent loan in July 2020 for a hair and nail salon that did not exist, the documents allege.
At the time she filed for the loan, Rodriguez was receiving unemployment from a national bank and was not the owner of a salon. She received $37,500 for the loan. Her co-conspirator, identified as "G.R.," received $47,500 for a business identified as Company 1.
Prosecutors said Company 1 was a real business but G.R. used false statements to obtain the loan, and while submitting the loan, G.R. was collecting federally subsidized unemployment from the state of North Carolina.
Rodriguez was released on bond after Wednesday's hearing. Conspiracy to commit wire fraud carries a maximum prison sentence of five years and a $250,000 fine. A sentencing date has not been determined in the case.
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