CARNATION MAN SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS FOR PANDEMIC BENEFITS FRAUD AND ATTEMPTS TO STEAL DECEASED SEATTLE VICTIM’S HOME AND FINANCIAL ASSETS

SEATTLE – A Carnation, Washington, man has been sentenced to three years in prison after admitting to two separate fraud schemes that spanned several years, including the theft of pandemic unemployment benefits from multiple states and repeated attempts to take control of the home, bank accounts, and investment assets of a deceased Seattle resident.

Tyler Lee Berens, 36, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Seattle after pleading guilty in July 2026 to wire fraud, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft. U.S. District Judge John H. Chun imposed the three-year prison term, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered Berens to pay $148,706 in restitution.

During sentencing, Judge Chun described the offenses as addiction-fueled crimes while emphasizing their seriousness and the broad consequences for both government programs and the victim whose identity and property Berens attempted to exploit.

Berens carried out the two fraud schemes between 2020 and 2024. The first began in May 2020, when he submitted fraudulent applications for pandemic unemployment benefits in 19 states: Montana, New Jersey, Nevada, Kansas, South Dakota, California, Arizona, Utah, Vermont, Alabama, Washington, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Idaho, Indiana, Delaware, and Colorado.

Although applications were submitted across nearly two dozen jurisdictions, Berens successfully obtained unemployment funds from six states. Authorities determined that he received a combined $148,206 from Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, Rhode Island, and Washington.

Berens also submitted an application for a $17,500 Paycheck Protection Program loan. Prosecutors said the application contained false information and was approved, though no PPP funds were ultimately disbursed to him.

His criminal conduct later shifted from government-benefit fraud to an attempt to take control of the property and financial holdings of a deceased elderly Seattle resident.

Beginning approximately two years after the unemployment scheme started, Berens repeatedly used the deceased victim’s identity and personal information in an effort to gain control over assets valued at more than half a million dollars. His targets included the victim’s Seattle residence, bank accounts, and investment portfolio.

The effort went beyond the unauthorized use of personal information. Berens posed as an authorized representative of the deceased victim and also impersonated the victim directly as part of his efforts to gain control of the victim’s assets.

As part of the real-estate portion of the scheme, Berens sent a real estate agent a forged power of attorney purporting to authorize him to sell the victim’s home. He represented that he had authority to handle the property and progressed far enough in the attempted sale that an offer on the residence had been accepted.

The transaction was interrupted after the victim’s niece learned what was happening, intervened, and reported the attempted fraud.

That intervention did not end Berens’ efforts.

After the attempted real-estate transaction was exposed, Berens accessed the deceased victim’s bank accounts and attempted to transfer money from them. He also obtained a debit card connected to the victim’s checking account.

Financial institutions eventually placed fraud restrictions on the affected accounts. Berens then attempted to defeat those protections by sending communications in which he impersonated the deceased victim and sought to have the restrictions removed.

His efforts later extended to the victim’s brokerage holdings.

Berens obtained access to the victim’s investment accounts and attempted to transfer money to himself. He also tried to liquidate more than $235,000 in stock holdings.

Those transactions were stopped after additional fraud controls were placed on the accounts and Berens lost access. Prosecutors said he again impersonated the deceased victim in an attempt to persuade the brokerage to restore his control.

The repeated attempts demonstrate the persistence of the second scheme. When one avenue was blocked, Berens moved to another asset or attempted to defeat the fraud controls that had been put in place. The conduct reached across real estate, banking, debit-card access, electronic communications, and brokerage accounts.

Berens was indicted in August 2025 and pleaded guilty on July 2, 2026, to wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and access device fraud.

Federal prosecutors requested the three-year sentence ultimately imposed by the court, arguing that Berens had diverted money intended to support individuals and businesses during an extraordinary national emergency. Prosecutors also emphasized the continuing investigative burden created by pandemic-related fraud schemes years after the programs themselves were established.

The pandemic unemployment portion of the case resulted in actual losses because Berens obtained $148,206 from six state benefit systems. His attempts to take control of the deceased victim’s home, bank accounts, and investment assets were interrupted by the victim’s niece and by fraud restrictions imposed by financial institutions.

W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle Field Office, said Berens spent years attempting to profit from multiple schemes, first by obtaining benefits from state assistance programs to which he was not entitled and later by impersonating a deceased person in an effort to take that person’s assets.

Herrington said the FBI and its partners would continue tracing financial activity in investigations involving stolen money and identity information.

Anthony P. D’Esposito, Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Labor, said the sentence demonstrates the government’s commitment to pursuing individuals who exploit vulnerable victims and misuse public-benefit programs. He emphasized that fraud creates real financial consequences for victims and government systems.

The case also illustrates the different forms identity-based fraud can take. In the first scheme, Berens used false claims to obtain government benefits. In the second, he attempted to assume authority over another person’s financial life after that person had died, using forged documentation, account access, impersonation, and repeated attempts to defeat institutional fraud protections.

The FBI, the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General investigated the case.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica M. Ly prosecuted the case.

Berens will serve three years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and remains responsible for the court-ordered restitution. The prosecution involved both pandemic-assistance fraud and a prolonged effort to exploit the identity and assets of a deceased person across real estate, banking, and investment accounts.

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