Leicester Man Arrested On Federal Wire Fraud Charges

By Jerry Filmore Jr. –

On Friday, William Cordor, 26, of Leicester was arrested in connection with allegedly using a stolen identity to fraudulently claim unemployment benefits from the State of Nevada.

Cordor was charged by criminal complaint with one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

At his initial appearance at the U.S. District Court in Worcester, Cordor was detained pending a detention hearing set for March 11.

In August of 2020, Cordor was involved in a domestic violence incident and whe police made contact with Cordor, he was in possession of approximately 21 prepaid debit cards in 13 different names.

Investigators determined that on July 17, 2020, Cordor electronically filed a claim with the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (NV DETR) for unemployment benefits using one of the identities that appeared on the prepaid debit cards, including the victim’s name and Social Security number.

Cordor allegedly listed the prepaid debit card as the account to receive the unemployment benefits. Nevada authorities marked the claim as fraudulent and did not issue the unemployment benefits.

Federal agents also found documents with the victim’s name on Cordor’s laptop during a search of his residence.

Cordor allegedly admitted to federal agents that he had fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

That same day, Cordor agreed to surrender to federal authorities the balance of $79,600 in his bank account that were proceeds of his unemployment fraud scheme in Massachusetts.