History tends to repeat itself. While many fraudsters can learn from their mistakes, there are some who often return to old patterns of behavior. A Connecticut man who was gainfully employed by a restaurant, repeated his mistake from a decade earlier and tried to fraudulently collect more than $6,000 in unemployment compensation. Now, he owes his state’s Labor Department twice as much.
The restaurant worker, who was logging more than 25 hours per week, was also calling the Connecticut Department of Labor’s automated phone line underreporting the number of hours he worked in order to obtain unemployment compensation he did not deserve.The article states that he started off with slight underreporting by a few dollars, then drastically changed his claims to report that he was only working one hour a week when he was actually working between 25 and 33 hours per week. (That would definitely disqualify him from receiving state funds.)
The fraudster admitted to investigators that the reason he was fraudulently claiming unemployment benefits was because he was a bit behind on bills. (Well, that certainly makes it o.k. to steal from others to take care of yourself – NOT! What if everyone did that?)The story also mentions that he confessed to investigators while at his parents’ residence. (No comment.)
In a plea bargain, the fraudster was convicted of third-degree larceny and unemployment compensation fraud. He received a three-year suspended sentence and five years of probation on each count. Because of a state law that affects repeat offenders of unemployment fraud, he is required to pay double the amount he owed—which was $6,136.
He has effectively dug himself deeper into a hole that he might not be able to get out of again if he chooses to repeat history again.
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