Convicted Killer Got Unemployment Benefits While in LA Jail

The short version: Los Angeles authorities said a convicted killer — Anthony Garcia, nicknamed "Chopper," notorious for a murder-scene tattoo on his chest — received more than $30,000 in fraudulent unemployment benefits while sitting in LA County jail between 2008 and 2010.

How it worked

According to Sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker, Garcia's father and two girlfriends collected the checks, cashed them, and deposited the money into inmate accounts belonging to Garcia and fellow gang members. The 47-year-old father, Juan Garcia, and girlfriends Sandra Jaimez, 45, and Cynthia Limas, 25, were arrested on charges including grand theft.

Authorities said they had not yet decided whether to charge Garcia himself. He was already serving time for the 2004 killing of a gang rival in Pico Rivera — a conviction built partly on the evidence tattooed across his own chest: a depiction of the crime scene.

Why the story traveled

On the surface it's a tale of brazen fraud. Underneath, it's a systems story: unemployment benefits flowed to an inmate for two years before anyone noticed, which says less about one gang member's audacity than about the gaps in the verification machinery. Fraud this slow and this large is never just one person's crime — it's a process failure with a person's name on it.

Reported from the Associated Press, March 2012. From the archive: refreshed for clarity.