A Wiscasset man will have to repay the state $11,129 and serve jail time for continuing to collect unemployment for seven months after finding work.
Joshua B. Stover, 29, collected unemployment benefits from April 8, 2011 to Nov. 19, 2011 while he was working for an insulation company, Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Liberman said.
A Lincoln County grand jury indicted Stover for Class B theft by deception Sept. 10, 2013. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of Class C theft by deception, still a felony, Feb. 3.
A court order delays the final outcome of the case for a year. Stover has the year to pay $6,000 of the restitution amount. If he does so and does not commit any other crime, he will receive a sentence of three years with all but 60 days suspended.
After the initial 60-day jail sentence, Stover would remain on probation for two years. He will have to complete restitution payments while on probation. If he violates probation, he could return to jail to serve the suspended portion of his sentence.
If Stover fails to repay the money or otherwise violates the court order, he would face up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, the maximum penalty for a Class C crime.
Stover is due to appear in Lincoln County Superior Court at 1 p.m., Monday, Feb. 16, 2015, for a hearing to determine the outcome of the case.
The state became aware of the fraud through paperwork generated by Stover’s employment with the insulation company, Liberman said.
“There was official documentation filed with the state,” Liberman said. “He was not working under the table.”
“It’s a very clear breach of trust for someone to collect unemployment benefits and continue to work and make money,” Liberman said. “The benefits are designed for people who are trying to find work but can’t, and that’s what he abused.”
The district attorney’s office has two similar cases pending in Lincoln County, Liberman said.
Maine Gov. Paul LePage has made the prosecution of unemployment and welfare fraud a high priority of his administration.
“Obtaining benefits under false pretenses is a crime. It takes money away from people who are genuinely in need,” LePage said in a September 2013 statement. “Furthermore, unemployment fraud burdens the businesses that pay taxes to fund benefits.”
The Maine Department of Labor “is aggressively moving felony cases to prosecution,” Labor Commissioner Jeanne Paquette said at the time.
The department has better systems in place to obtain information from employers and check benefit recipients against employment and hiring databases. “This is helping us identify potential fraud more quickly,” Paquette said.
The department “actively pursues the collection of benefit overpayments and any associated fines and interest,” according to a department press release.
The department can garnish tax returns and wages from recipients who do not voluntarily complete repayment.
For information about how to report suspected unemployment fraud, visit http://www.maine.gov/labor/unemployment/fraud.html.
