Inmates admit to pandemic unemployment insurance fraud

PLATTSBURGH — Two Bare Hill Correctional Facility inmates pleaded guilty to pandemic-related unemployment insurance fraud in federal court Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Prosecutors said Reginald Thornton, 29, and Lord Paulin, 41, admitted to conspiracy to commit mail fraud after they filed unemployment insurance claims in their own names and in the names of other inmates, despite being incarcerated in the Malone facility.

Thornton additionally pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft.

Thornton agreed to pay $31,276 in restitution to the State of New York, while Paulin has agreed to pay $10,004 in restitution.

Thornton and Paulin face up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 with three years of supervised release for their mail fraud convictions. Thornton’s aggravated identity theft conviction carries a mandatory two years in prison and can run consecutively with any other term of imprisonment, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Thornton is currently serving a seven to nine year sentence for second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and first-degree criminal contempt. He was admitted to Bare Hill in 2018.

Paulin is serving a maximum seven year sentence for third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and was admitted in 2018.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 30 for the inmates before Chief United States Judge Glenn Suddaby. Sentences will be based on the U.S. Sentencing guidelines, the statute the inmates are charged with and other factors, the Attorney’s Office said.

Thornton and Paulin’s cases were investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Homeland Security Investigations and the Special Investigations of New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.