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Crime Jun 02, 2023
| Photo courtesy of Pepi Stojanovski/Unsplash
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An Irvine woman was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison for stealing unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rosalva Bahena pleaded guilty Dec. 28 to three counts of perjury, 20 counts of false statement or representation or concealment, six counts of money laundering, and a count of conspiracy to defraud, all felonies.
Her brother, co-defendant Bruno Galindo, 51, also pleaded guilty Dec. 28 to 20 counts of false statement or representation or concealment, six counts of money laundering, and a count of conspiracy to defraud, all felonies. Galindo was sentenced to two years in prison March 17.
Charges against co-defendant Guillermo Rodriguez, 55, were dismissed Jan. 3.
Galindo, who is in prison, falsely claimed he lost his full-time job at a smoke shop because of the pandemic in August of 2020, according to the criminal complaint. Galindo was convicted of attempted murder in January of 2005 in Riverside County.
Bahena conspired with Galindo to defraud the California Employment Development Department with bogus pandemic-related unemployment claims on behalf of three prisoners, according to the criminal complaint.
Bahena used the debit cards issued to Galindo and Rodriguez to withdraw money from Bank of America in August, October and November, prosecutors said.
Bahena previously pleaded guilty in December 2016 to carjacking in a plea bargain that led to the dismissal of charges of kidnapping, car theft and buying or receiving a stolen vehicle, according to court records. She was sentenced to three years in prison in February 2017.
Rodriguez was sentenced to 110 years to life in prison in December 2010 for strangling his married neighbor, who had multiple sclerosis, after he caught her in bed with his 18-year-old son.
The Fullerton resident was convicted for the Oct. 15, 2006, strangulation death of 43-year-old Donna Dutton at the Streams apartment complex at 1251 Deerpark Drive.
Rodriguez also pleaded guilty in February 1997 to robbery and assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced then to four years in prison.
