LOS ANGELES — A former Amtrak employee has been sentenced to 25 months in prison for conspiring to steal nearly $1 million in pandemic-related unemployment insurance benefits and fraudently obtaining more than $63,000 in sickness benefits, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California has announced.
In sentencing on Thursday, July 17, 2025, Lizette Berrios Lathon, 48, of Moreno Valley, Calif., was also ordered to pay $1,061,667 in restitution by U.S. District Judge Fernando M. Olguin. Lathon had pleaded guilty in November 2022 to one count of conspiracy to committee mail front and wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, and one count of wire fraud.
Her husband, Kenneth Andrew Lathon, 50, of Moreno Valley, had previously been sentenced to 54 months in federal prison and to pay $998,630 in restitution. He had pleaded guilty in 2022 to one count of conspiracy to committee mail fraud and wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, and one county of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
According to a press release, between 2014 and 2022, Lizette Lathon operated at least three tax preparation businesses in addition to working as an Amtrak service attendant. She submitted fraudulent unemployment insurance benefit claims using identity information from former tax clients without their permission, leading the California Employment Development Department to issue benefit debit cards in the names of those former clients, but sent to addresses controlled by Lathon and her family. The Lathons then used the debit cards to make cash withdrawals and retain purchases. At least 44 false claims were filed.
She also filed forged and false claims for sickness benefits with the Railroad Retirement board, receiving approximately $63,047 in benefit payments.
