Chicago man gets 3 years in insurance fraud case

A federal judge has sentenced a Chicago man to three years in prison for a nearly half-million dollar fraud scheme involving the Illinois Department of Employment Insurance.

Federal officials say 34-year-old Robert Cisneros was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to mail fraud in January. Prosecutors say because of Cisneros the department paid the insurance money to about 57 ineligible claimants who weren’t legally allowed to work in the U.S.

Cisneros also was ordered to pay restitution to the department.

Department Director Jay Rowell says “every resident of Illinois” is harmed by insurance fraud. He says his department worked with federal prosecutors during the investigation.