Former New England Patriots wide receiver Kenbrell Thompkins has been charged with access device fraud and aggravated identity theft, after allegedly using the stolen identities of numerous Florida residents to fraudulently obtain roughly $300,000 in unemployment insurance benefits from the state of California, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Thompkins was named among a slate of indictments released by officials in South Florida as part of an effort to investigate fraud related to the CARES Act, the first major COVID-19 relief bill passed last year.
According to prosecutors, the 32-year-old former NFL player used stolen identities to get the California government to send debit cards loaded with unemployment benefits to his addresses in Miami and Aventura, Florida.