PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A North Carolina man who pleaded guilty to using stolen identities to collect about $2.8 million in pandemic unemployment benefits has been sentenced to five years in federal prison, the U.S. attorney's office in Rhode Island said Wednesday.

Irvin Vilneus, 34, of Barbeque, North Carolina, formerly of North Lauderdale, Florida, was sentenced Oct. 27 by U.S. District Judge Melissa R. DuBose in federal court in Rhode Island. He will also serve three years of supervised release.

DuBose ordered Vilneus to pay $2,812,716 in restitution and to forfeit assets seized from his home, including $45,899 in cash and jewelry. The court also entered a forfeiture money judgment of $2,812,716, prosecutors said.

Vilneus pleaded guilty Jan. 20 to several federal charges, including three counts of wire fraud and three counts of aggravated identity theft.

According to court documents, Vilneus used the stolen personal information of more than 150 people to file fraudulent claims for unemployment benefits that were expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic under the federal CARES Act and the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The claims were filed in several states, including Rhode Island, prosecutors said.

Vilneus had the benefits deposited into bank accounts he had opened using other people's identities, according to prosecutors. Over about eight months, he took about $2.8 million in government benefits, the office said.

The FBI, the U.S. Labor Department's inspector general, Rhode Island State Police and the Rhode Island attorney general's office were among the agencies that investigated the case.

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