A mother and daughter from Fort Branch have been sentenced in connection with a Nigerian fraud ring that exploited the COVID-19 crisis to commit large-scale fraud against state unemployment insurance programs.
Andrea Renee Pytlinski, 40, and her mother Rose Ann Azzarello, 61, were arrested and charged with wire fraud in July 2020.
Evidence presented at the sentencing hearings in May 2020 says the Fort Branch Police Department received a complaint from Field and Main Bank in Evansville, regarding account transactions in which Washington State Unemployment benefits were being ACH transferred into Indiana bank accounts held by the two.
After the illicit funds were deposited into their accounts, they would withdraw the money prior to the detection of any fraud, and then transmit a portion of the ill-gotten funds to a third party while retaining their share.
Pytlinski was sentenced to 18 months in prison with 3 years of supervised release to follow.
Her mother was sentenced to four years of supervised release.
Each were also ordered to pay $27,522 in restitution.
