INMATES COLLECTED $30K IN UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS
August 11, 2009
Posted: 11:31 am
ALBANY -- Eleven inmates cheated the state by collecting $30,000 in unemployment benefits while already on the dole in jail, an audit released this morning by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has found.
The auditors compared payments made by the Department of Labor for unemployment benefits during June 2008 with prison records maintained by the state Department of Correctional Services.
Aside from the 11 who inappropriately received benefits, the review discovered another 14 prisoners who potentially profited from gaps in the system.
One man who auditors discovered incarcerated under another person's name is now being prosecuted by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. Payments to another four inmates were stopped when they failed to respond to inquires about the issue.
Unemployed New Yorkers must be ready, willing and able to work their usual job in order to receive taxpayer-funded unemployment benefits.
"These prisoners figured out a way to game the system from inside a cell," DiNapoli said in statement. "Taxpayers shouldn't be footing the bill for this kind of outrageous scam."
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Where there is a govt dollar to be had, someone will figure out a scam.
