Wyndmoor resident Najah Harrell, 32, is one of eight Philadelphia Police Department employees indicted for fraudulently obtaining emergency unemployment benefits related to COVID-19.

Harrell, who was a civilian dispatcher with the PPD, was charged with one count of mail fraud and one count of theft of government funds for obtaining Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) funds while working for the police and also collecting her paycheck from the police department. The indictment claims that Harrell fraudulently obtained $14,790 in benefits from July 25, 2020 to Feb. 1, 2021.

“Pandemic Unemployment Assistance funds are intended to help Americans who are not working or who have experienced dramatically reduced working hours due to the pandemic, not people who are already gainfully employed,” said U.S. Attorney Williams. “Thieves who attempt to take these funds are taking advantage of others’ misfortune – ripping them off while also ripping off all taxpayers who fund the program. As alleged, these eight defendants fraudulently obtained funds that could have helped struggling individuals.”

The scheme allegedly entailed filling out PUA applications and falsely stating that she was working part-time due to the COVID-19 pandemic and that her last day of employment was April 20, 2020. In fact, the indictment alleges, Harrell did not lose her job, nor was she reduced to part-time hours due to Covid19 and “continued to be employed thereafter.”

Harrell’s case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Department of Labor – Office of Inspector General, City of Philadelphia Office of Inspector General, and the Philadelphia Police Department with assistance from the Pennsylvania Department of Industry and Labor. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Timothy Lanni.