West Hempstead man charged with fraud

A West Hempstead man has been charged with stealing unemployment benefits.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice has identified the man as Drew Himmell, 55. Rice announced on Dec. 26 that Himmell had been charged in a criminal complaint with collecting $10,488 in benefits between Feb. 21, 2010, and Oct. 2, 2011, while he was employed.

Himmell and 16 other Long Island offenders were charged in criminal court. According to Rice, all of the defendants failed to report their employment, as required by Department of Labor regulations, and thereby fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits. They were arrested over the past month, and all were charged with a top count of third-degree grand larceny, with a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

“Unemployment insurance is meant to help honest workers get through hard times while they look for jobs, but these defendants are charged with abusing that trust and assistance by cheating the system,” Rice said. “Thankfully, the Department of Labor caught the scams, and we’ll work together to prosecute these cases and return fairness to New York taxpayers.”