Former Suffolk County corrections officer pleads guilty to wire fraud

Crime

The former officer fraudulently obtained loans from pandemic-era unemployment and small business loan programs.

A former corrections officer at the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department pleaded guilty Tuesday to committing fraud to obtain loans from unemployment programs created in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, prosecutors said.

Christnel Orisca, 25, of Boston, pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud and one count of making a false statement to a financial institution, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. He was arrested and charged in December 2024 along with Jasmine Murphy, another corrections officer indicted on similar charges.

Orisca worked at the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department as a corrections officer from late 2021 to December 2024, according to prosecutors. Prior to his employment there, he fraudulently applied for unemployment benefits from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program (PUA) and small business loan funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

When Orisca applied for the benefits, he was working full-time, first for a security company and later for a delivery company. He collected approximately $54,700 in fraudulent unemployment benefits and loan funds, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

Orisca falsely represented his employment status on his PUA application and repeatedly claimed that he did not work and was not receiving any income, according to prosecutors. He also submitted false statements to lenders about the income and payroll of his purported small business in his PPP loan application.

For the wire fraud charges, Orisca faces up to to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. He also faces up to 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release, and a $1 million fine for the false statement charge.

Orisca is scheduled to be sentenced March 11.