In May 2020, Chytka developed the scheme to file fraudulent claims for pandemic unemployment benefits via the Virginia Employment Commission website, according to court records. The scheme was to submit claims for various individuals, including Chytka, Greg Tackett and Jeff Tackett, who were each ineligible to receive pandemic unemployment benefits, records show.
To file for benefits, the individuals made false statements about unemployment based on COVID-19, using a fictitious employer as the name of the last employer, and claiming that the applicant was actively seeking full-time employment.
Because pandemic unemployment benefits were paid on a weekly basis, the scheme was continuing. Chytka and the others agreed to file weekly recertifications for the claims they submitted.
At the time Chytka developed the scheme, court records say Jeff Tackett was incarcerated at the Regional Jail in Duffield and was not capable of accessing a computer system to file his own fraudulent claim. Inmates are ineligible to receive unemployment benefits.
Jeff Tackett provided all of his personal information required to file his claim to Chytka, who would then file on his behalf, court records state.
The scheme expanded and began to include other inmates — all ineligible to obtain benefits — at the Duffield facility. They also made claims for other friends and family members, court records show.
Jeff Tackett approached inmates at the jail and told them he had a way to make money by submitting claims for pandemic unemployment benefits on their behalf, prosecutors said in court records. Fifteen inmates, most of them in the same jail pod, are said to have provided their information to Tackett, who then passed it on to Chytka so she could file claims.
Some conspiracy members agreed that in exchange for filing claims, Chytka and others could keep a portion of the money. Some people gave them drugs. Others gave them money, according to court records.
Chytka and Greg Tackett used the address of a residence in Lebanon, where they lived, for all of the applications. Benefits were then sent to the address on pre-paid debit cards, records show. Thirty-nine pandemic unemployment benefit claims used the Lebanon address.
On 12 of the claims, they used the name “Walls,” which is Chytka’s maiden name, records show. Seventeen claims used Chytka’s cell phone number.
Chytka, who pleaded guilty to fraud charges in March, confessed to filing fraudulent claims during an interview with investigators while incarcerated at the Lincoln County Detention Center in North Carolina. She admitted to being employed at the time, but still filed for unemployment, records show. She received not less than $18,000 for her personal claim.
During the conspiracy, Chytka even attempted to start a business called “D&R Accounting” to facilitate the scheme. She wanted to make the scheme appear “legit,” court records show. She also planned to charge people a fee for her service of filing fraudulent claims.
To distribute benefits to inmate co-conspirators, Chytka occasionally sent money to the commissary accounts in jail, as directed by Jeff Tackett.
Chytka, who faces up to 48 years in prison, and Greg Tackett are awaiting sentencing in U.S. District Court in Abingdon. Jeffrey Tackett’s charges are still pending.