California woman accused of collecting benefits in infamous killers’ names

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A Californian woman has been charged with obtaining more than $145,000 in fraudulent unemployment benefits, some of that money under the names of notorious killers Scott Peterson and Cary Stayner, state prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Brandy Iglesias was employed at a private company contracted with San Quentin State Prison, where both men are incarcerated, and may have accessed their personal information through her job, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said.

“Don’t let the infamous names distract you from who this crime really hurt – the most vulnerable in our society,” Bonta said in a written statement.

Peterson, 49, was convicted in 2004 of murdering his pregnant wife and unborn son at their home in Modesto, California on Christmas Eve two years earlier. The killings and subsequent trial were covered exhaustively in the media.

Stayner, 61, was convicted for the murders of four women near Yosemite National Park in California between February and July of 1999 and sentenced to death.

It was not clear if Iglesias, 43, has met either man. She was taken into custody last week following a multi-agency investigation.

Iglesias made an initial court appearance on Wednesday and ordered held on $20,000 bond. Reuters could not determine if she had retained an attorney.

Bonta said Iglesias collected the fraudulent benefits from April 2020 to September 2021.

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