TRENTON – Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman announced that a Georgia woman indicted in 2012 for her part in a scheme to steal $2 million in unemployment benefits from the State of New Jersey was sentenced today to five years in state prison.

Monique Valentine, 35, formerly of Roselle, was sentenced today by Superior Court Judge Darlene J. Pereksta in Mercer County. Valentine pleaded guilty on March 13, 2013 to second degree-conspiracy and second-degree theft by deception. She has also been ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $25,000. In addition, a civil consent judgment has been entered against her in the amount of $386, 189, which means the State could still seek financial penalties from Valentine up to that amount. At her plea hearing in March 2013, Valentine admitted to conspiring with others to defraud the State of New Jersey out of a total of $1,489,411 in unemployment benefits in her part of the scheme, which included her ex-boyfriend Terry Dilligard II and his father.

“This con artist fleeced the State of New Jersey by targeting a financial lifeline that residents depend upon in times of uncertainty,” said Acting Attorney General Hoffman. “This was an outrageous case of fraud and greed and the prison sentence imposed today send a clear message that such criminal behavior will not tolerated in New Jersey.

“Operation Labor Day has been an incredibly complex case to investigate and prosecute,” said Division of Criminal Justice Director Elie Honig. “However, we have not and we will not waver in our pursuit of all of the criminals involved in this massive fraud.” 

“We have maintained a no-tolerance stand against anyone who steals from the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, and with the state Office of the Attorney General, we have prosecuted everyone caught defrauding the system to the fullest extent. We also have implemented anti-fraud measures that have, to date, prevented more than $500 million from going into the hands of fraudsters and we continue to improve out fraud detection techniques to protect this important safety net,” Labor Commissioner Harold J. Wirths said.

Valentine, was charged on March 1, 2012 in an indictment that stemmed from “Operation Labor Day,” an investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice and the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development. The indictment alleges that Valentine and four others led a scheme in which they filed false unemployment insurance claims between August 2006 and November 2010 which resulted in the theft of more than $2 million in unemployment benefits from the State of New Jersey. Claims were filed in the names of co-conspirators, individuals whose identities were stolen, and people who were deceased.

Also charged with Valentine were:

1. Terry Dilligard II, of Newark, her former boyfriend
2. Janice Allen, of Newark, Dillgard II’s mother
3. Janice Dilligard, of Newark, Dilligard II’s twin sister
4. Terry Dilligard Sr., of DeLand, Florida, Dilligard II’s father

Janice Allen and Janice Dilligard were both convicted at trial in February and sentenced to 15 years in prison. The charges against Terry Dilligard II and his father are pending, and they are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Twenty-six others defendants were indicted in the plot and 24 have either pleaded guilty or been admitted into a Pre-Trial Intervention program. The two remaining defendants, Tina Young and Tony Hardiman, are fugitives.

The investigation began in 2010 when a debit card company affiliated with a bank used by the defendants alerted the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development about suspicious activity related to debit accounts, including account holders who were deceased and unemployment benefits for multiple claimants being deposited into the same account. The labor department’s fraud unit, the Bureau of Benefit Payment Control, identified numerous false claims linked to the accounts and alerted the Division of Criminal Justice. The Division of Criminal Justice and Department of Labor & Workforce Development then commenced their joint investigation, “Operation Labor Day.”

Deputy Attorney General Torntore represented the Division of Criminal Justice at the sentencing hearing. The investigation was conducted for the Division of Criminal Justice by Detective Kimberly Allen and Detective Eric Ludwick of the Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau, and Deputy Attorneys General Leahy and Torntore of the Labor Prosecutions Unit.

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