Sweeping indictments for 29 jail and state prison inmates who allegedly conspired to defraud the state unemployment system.

Amber Dawn Umbarger was managing a sober living house in Los Osos, a job she had as a condition of parole after being convicted of possession of drugs for sale—for the benefit of a street gang—when Monterey County law enforcement officers knocked on her door in late February.

The purpose: To serve a search warrant and look for evidence that Umbarger was a facilitator in a conspiracy in which dozens of Monterey County Jail and state prison inmates applied for and received unemployment benefits that they weren't entitled to. 

At Umbarger's arraignment today it took multiple minutes for Monterey County Superior Court Judge Julie Culver to read off the charges against her. In all, the woman faces six counts of conspiracy, 25 counts of making false statements under the state insurance code and 17 counts of money laundering.

According to prosecutors, Umbarger's boyfriend and alleged co-conspirator, Brian Zuniga, provided her with the names and information of six fellow inmates at the jail; Umbarger, working at the sober living house but seemingly in constant communication with Zuniga on jail video and telephone calls, then applied for the benefits in their names in exchange for 50 percent of the take.

Umbarger was one of six defendants arraigned today after prosecutors took a route rarely used in Monterey County and secured grand jury indictments against 29 people who allegedly defrauded the state EDD department.

Statewide, the level of fraud from inmates either applying for benefits directly, or having their identities used without their knowledge to apply for benefits, during the pandemic is estimated at about $1 billion.

In Monterey County so far, the dollar figure is about $400,000. All six arraigned today were already in custody at the Monterey County Jail. Others named in the indictments were released but ordered to appear at future arraignments in the coming weeks. Several were arrested today and others are still being sought.

The others who appeared before Culver today are: Daniel Michael Birchell, charged with a count of conspiracy, four counts of making false statements and money laundering; Antonio DeLuna, charged with a count of conspiracy, a count of making false statements and two counts of money laundering; Arcadio Benito PerezRuiz, charged with a count of conspiracy and two counts each of giving a false statement and money laundering; Daniel Lee Rosbach, charged with a count of conspiracy, six counts of making false statements and two counts of money laundering; and Javier Morales Vaca, charged with a count of conspiracy, five counts of making false statements and two counts of money laundering. 

Umbarger appeared to know why she was being arraigned—she was present when the search warrant was served on the sober living house and was arrested earlier this month for violating her parole by communicating with Zuniga while he was in jail. But the arraignments came as a surprise to several of the others, with Vaca telling the judge, "I'm not aware of what's going on," and PerezRuiz asking, "What matter is this?"

Somers says the District Attorney's office sought the grand jury indictments rather than charging each defendant directly as a matter of pandemic-era expediency.

"Because of Covid, the courts are backed up and they have massive calendars they're trying to catch up on," Somers says. "At this point we have 36 cases and we expect more to come, and we felt dropping those on the courts might be problematic. 

"By using the Grand Jury, it took four days of testimony to cover all of these cases," he says, "so it was a much more efficient way to do it than having to recall all of those witnesses for each case."

Law enforcement began looking at the jail as a source of EDD fraud last summer, after an inmate was recorded on a jail phone talking to someone on the outside about receiving unemployment benefits. Given that inmates don't qualify for unemployment benefits, it raised a lot of questions.

Over the ensuing months, investigators had to determine whether inmates had their identities stolen by people on the outside who then applied for and received the state EDD benefit debit cards, or if inmates conspired with individuals or groups on the outside to pull off the massive scam and profited from it as well.

The indictments unveiled today included 21 individuals who allegedly applied for and received unemployment insurance while in custody in the Monterey County Jail. The remaining eight indictments were returned against individuals who, while not incarcerated, conspired with the inmates to commit the fraud, according to a press release from the District Attorney's Office.

According to the press release, the complete list of those indicted are as follows:

• Daniel Lee Rosbach, age 29 of Salinas
• Heather Louise Rosbach, age 33 of Castroville
• Luciano Ramirez, age 34 of Salinas
• Mayra Rodriguez Guzman, age 29 of Salinas
• Davian Derrell Jones, age 29 of Lancaster
• Jeraline Diana Jones, age 27 of Lancaster
• Diondre Lamon Rodriguez, age 49 of Seaside
• Shayna Dawn Kisling-Bowman, age 42 of Marina
• Daniel Michael Birchell, age 34 of Monterey
• Amanda Kari Marie Agloro, age 33 of Seaside
• Justin Allen Casey, age 32 of Seaside
• Rafael Valencia, age 25 of Salinas
• Rubie Marie Jimenez, age 32 of Soledad,
• Tracy Dyan Rhodes, age 34 of Salinas
• Daniel Aaron Contreras, age 28 of Brisbane
• Andrew Magana, age 32 of Salinas
• Kevin Anthony Hall, age 28 of Marina
• Josephine G Hall, age 52 of Marina
• Michael Eugene Fuller, age 23 of Fresno
• Christian Isaiah Foster, age 22 of Fresno
• Amber Dawn Umbarger, age 40 of Los Osos
• Brian Zuniga, age 26 of King City
• Antonio DeLuna, age 22 of Salians
• Arcadio Benito Perezruiz, age 25 of Salinas
• Ralph Salvador Apodaca, age 40 of Salinas
• Oscar Benitez, age 22 of Salinas
• Javier Morales Vaca, age 42 of Watsonville
• Adrien Olivas, age 34 of Salinas
• Tirrell Deshaun Butler, age 32 of Stockton