A man from Richton Park, Illinois, was charged with six counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft stemming from a scheme to defraud state unemployment insurance programs in Connecticut and several other states.

Richard M. Lach was arrested Friday morning in Matteson, Illinois.

Lach allegedly filed fraudulent claims with the Connecticut Department of Labor for unemployment benefits in the names of identity theft victims, using their names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers. The unemployment benefits were directly deposited to Green Dot debit cards he was using, which had been fraudulently opened in the names of other alleged victims.

The indictment further alleges that in addition to fraudulently obtaining unemployment benefits from the Connecticut Department of Labor, he also fraudulently obtained or attempted to obtain unemployment benefits from agencies in other states, including Idaho, Iowa, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.

Each count of wire fraud carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years and aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory consecutive two-year term of imprisonment.