Office of the Attorney General: Revere Man Pleads Guilty, Sentenced in Connection with Fraudulently Collecting More Than $15,000 in Unemployment Benefits

FROM THE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

July 22, 2008

Contact:
Grant Woodman (AGO)
(617) 727-2543
Linnea Walsh (EOLWD)
(617) 626-7111


BOSTON – Today, a Revere man pled guilty on charges he schemed to fraudulently collect more than $15,000 in unemployment benefits. Christopher Bonsall, age 28, was charged with Unemployment Fraud (30 counts) and Larceny over $250 by a Single Scheme. Following the change of plea from not guilty to guilty, Suffolk Superior Court Judge D. Lloyd MacDonald sentenced Bonsall to three years of supervised probation and ordered Bonsall to pay restitution in the amount of $15,840.

Bonsall applied for and began receiving unemployment benefits from the Massachusetts Department of Workforce Development’s Division of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) from May 2005 through December 2005. Investigators from the Attorney General’s Office and DUA found that unemployment benefit checks were issued to Bonsall in response to his claim that he was separated from his alleged employer, DuGomes Corp., a corporation that involuntarily dissolved in 1990.

For each of the 30 weeks that Bonsall collected unemployment benefits, he notified the DUA that he was not working, but that he was able to work and was available for work. The fraudulent activities were initially detected by investigators from the DUA. Bonsall fraudulently collected unemployment benefits totaling $15,840.

A Suffolk County Grand Jury returned indictments against Bonsall on October 11, 2007. Bonsall was arraigned on November 1, 2007 at which time he entered a plea of not guilty and was released on personal recognizance. Today, Bonsall entered a change of plea to guilty in Suffolk Superior Court.

To report unemployment fraud to the DUA, call the toll free hotline at 1-800-354-9927 anytime, 24 hours a day and callers may report suspected fraud anonymously.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Stephen Adams of Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Insurance & Unemployment Fraud Division, with assistance from Investigator Pepper Daigler of the Attorney General’s Office and Paul Griffin of the DUA.