A Butler County Prison inmate is one of nearly three dozen people in Western Pennsylvania who are accused of illegally applying for unemployment benefits due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Clifford Yoders, 40, of Clinton, Allegheny County, has been in the prison in Butler since June 11, authorities said, on unrelated state charges.

He now is charged federally with knowingly filing, or aiding and abetting the filing, of a claim for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits that contained materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statements.

Yoders allegedly used a jailhouse phone to have a relative file the bogus claim, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

U.S. Attorney Scott Brady in Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro on Tuesday announced that Yoders and 32 other people, including inmates and their accomplices, have been charged with fraudulently obtaining aid through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.

But it is likely many more could be charged.

Brady noted at a news conference that about 10,000 inmates in state and county prisons in the state fraudulently applied for unemployment benefits during the pandemic.

“These 33 defendants represent, truly, the tip of the iceberg,” he said, “and we are seeing unemployment fraud on an unprecedented scale.”

According to the affidavits filed in the cases, the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program is a new federal program created as part of the CARES Act signed into law March 27.

The PUA program provides unemployment benefits to workers who have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic. In Pennsylvania, the PUA program is administered by the state Department of Labor & Industry, but its benefits are funded in large part by the federal government.

The program provided weekly federal unemployment aid of $600 to supplement state benefits.

Under the law, persons are eligible for PUA benefits only if they are both unemployed for reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic and available to work.

Individuals must access the PUA website and file a claim to receive benefits. The applicant is required to enter personally identifiable information as well as answer the eligibility questions.

Inmates who are serving a sentence, or who are detained pending a criminal trial, are neither available for work nor unemployed for reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, authorities said, they are not eligible to receive PUA benefits for the period of their incarceration.

In general, the inmates charged in Western Pennsylvania allegedly used jail phones or other prisoner communications to direct or assist persons on the outside to file claims online using the inmate's personal information, investigators said.

The benefits were then directed to the applicants' on-file addresses outside of the prison. Once approved, applicants were required to provide weekly certifications to continue to receive PUA program benefits.

The recorded calls between inmates and people outside prison, Brady said, indicated the cash was spent on televisions, legal fees, rent and jewelry.

The investigation of Yoders, according to court documents, was aided by recorded jailhouse telephone calls from the Butler County Prison.

Yoders is behind bars in a pending case of felony conspiracy to commit theft filed by Cranberry Township police. He is being held in lieu of $1,000 bond in the case. He also is being held on a detainer out of Allegheny County.

The monitored calls from the county prison, investigators said, revealed that Yoders discussed the filing of a PUA claim with at least two persons, one of whom he referred to as “Momma” and the other as “Lex.”

In a call July 18, Yoders is heard telling the person he is speaking to that, “It's not going to come back on you; ultimately, it's on me,” the criminal complaint said.

Investigators allege the defendant “coaches” the individual on the other end how to answer the questions in the application form. His claim was filed July 18.

During an Aug. 19 interview at the prison, Yoders acknowledged that he submitted the claim and used someone else to file it for him, the complaint said.

He also allegedly admitted that he knew he was not eligible to receive the benefits.

Under the law, Yoders faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Asked if anyone else in connection with Yoders' case could be charged, Margaret Philbin, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, declined comment, citing the ongoing investigation.