Former state worker from Carson and ex-boyfriend get 1 year, 8 months in prison for pandemic benefits scheme

LOS ANGELES — A former employee of the California Employment Development Department, which administers the state’s unemployment insurance program, and her ex-boyfriend were sentenced Friday in downtown Los Angeles to federal prison terms for fraudulently  obtaining hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 pandemic-related jobless benefits.

Phyllis Stitt, 61, of Carson was sentenced to 20 months — one year and eight months — in federal prison by U.S. District Judge  André  Birotte Jr....