Ohio Inspector General report reveals possible criminal activity inside Ohio’s unemployment office

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - Ohio’s unemployment system was compromised by at least two of its workers, according to reports from the Ohio Inspector General’s office.

In one report released Nov. 9, Angela Calderon, of Toledo, who worked intermittently for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS), is accused of receiving unemployment benefits from that very agency for 14 weeks.

The report claims Calderon was paid more than $7,600 in unemployment benefits.

The problem, Calderon worked for ODJFS at the same time she was claiming unemployment, according to the report. She then allegedly lied about what she was doing.

Calderon was indicted by a Lucas County Grand Jury.

In the report released Thursday, Y’Nesha Jackson, of Cincinnati, who also worked intermittently for ODJFS, was accused of improperly accessing and changing claims that she was not assigned to.

The report states Jackson used confidential information to access four claimants’ applications that were submitted with either insufficient or questionable forms of identification.

The report claims she not only fixed the issues but in two cases, backdated the claims so the claimants would get more benefits.

The benefits came in the form of debit cards. ODJFS was able to recoup the money from three of the four debit cards.

About $1,100 had been used from the fourth debit card.

The person who used it had been in contact with Jackson, though the Inspector General says there is no evidence that the person was aware of what Jackson was allegedly doing.

The report also states that Jackson tried to release funds on six additional claimants’ accounts but was not successful.

The Inspector General’s office has referred Jackson’s case to the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office.

FOX19 NOW reached out to the Inspector General’s office, who has not yet responded, however, ODJFS issued this statement:

“These actions are unacceptable. Upon discovering them, we immediately took steps to recover the improperly-approved funds and escalated the situation to the Inspector General.

“We are disappointed that the intermittent employee in question allegedly abused their position to improperly approve claims.

“We will continue to monitor for fraud both internally and externally and are reviewing our controls to reduce the likelihood of this abuse in the future.”

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