UPDATED: Manchester Man Charged with Fraud in Illinois Court

This article was updated at 1:16 p.m. on Sept. 30.

James L. Quirin, 57, of Manchester, was charged yesterday in federal court in East St. Louis in a criminal complaint which alleges theft of government funds, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Southern Illinois District Attorney.

According to the complaint, filed by U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Wigginton, Quirin applied for unemployment insurance benefits in February 2009. At the time, however, Quirin was a businessman receiving significant income.

Included in this article is a PDF copy of the initially filed criminal complaint.

Christopher Roberson, special agent for the department of labor, says in the complaint that Quirin filed a fraudulent application for unemployment benefits in Illinois, and told the judge he was unemployed and had no source of income. Quirin did this just before he was ordered to post an approximate quarter-million dollars in collateral at the time several of his business were sued in federal court, the complaint said.

The complaint states that Quirin continued to receive income through other businesses he was associated with. He avoided this income from being reported to the government in a practice known as structuring, in which his payments were split into separate checks of less than $10,000, which he then cashed at a bar in St. Louis.

Roberson says in the lawsuit that of the approximately 60 checks cashed at this bar, only a few had Quirin's name. The vast majority, Roberson says, were made out to business names such as Clark Trucking, THF Carting, THF Ice Co., THF Contracting Company and C. Grantham Company.

The company Quirin claimed to be laid off from was JLQ Inc.. That company, however, was owned and operated by Quirin, and he was the sole employee for whom employment insurance taxes had been paid, according to court documents.

Quirin, however, continued to provide fraudulent information to the state indicating he was unemployed, authorities said. He reaped the benefits of his false unemployment, which came in a form of debit card issued by the state, to pay for three vacations to Costa Rica as well as to pay for Hooters and the Monkey Bar.

A breakdown of the expenses in Costa Rica can be found on the case document, attached with this article.

From February 2009 to October 2010, Quirin earned a total of $44,670 in unemployment benefits.

The case is currently investigated by the Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Quirin was sent a summons letter to appear before the U.S. Southern Illinois District Court at 10 a.m. on Oct. 20, 2011.

State tuned to www.townandcountry-manchester.patch.com for more updates.