The Associated Press recently caught wind of a man and a woman in South Carolina who were discovered collecting unemployment benefits, despite their gainful employment.
According to the report and a news release by the state’s Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW), the two collected cash allocated for South Carolina’s jobless residents, after they submitted false information to the agency stating that they were unemployed and 100% lacking in income. The woman’s scam began in October 2008, right as the housing bubble burst. While that truly left millions of Americans without work, this 54-year-old fraudster was not among them. For two years, she claimed jobless benefits while she was employed, more than $10,000 meant for the jobless. The 44-year-old man received unemployment payments between July and August of 2012. (Now those are bubbles worth bursting.)
The DEW caught on to these anti-Robin Hoods and soon passed their suspicions to the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office. A subsequent investigation resulted in each defendant pleading guilty to one count of making a false statement or misrepresentation with the intent to defraud the DEW. For that charge—a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in prison—both received the maximum punishment. While the woman’s prison sentence ultimately was suspended, she remained on the hook for nearly $11,000 in fines and stolen funds. (So she’ll either need to do some overtime, or go back to serving time.)
Stealing from the poor takes a lot of nerve, especially during an economic disaster that left millions out of work and vulnerable to home foreclosure. Fortunately, South Carolina officials appear to be doing what they can to expose those who try to cheat the system.
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