By Eileen Buckley
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wbfo/local-wbfo-969730.mp3
Buffalo, NY – A Buffalo man and his girlfriend managed to collect unemployment benefits while he was behind bars in a state prison. But an investigation by the State Inspector General caught the bogus claims.
State Inspector General Ellen Biben came to Buffalo Thursday to discuss the case. Her office crossed checked the unemployment benefit claims with computer records from the state Department of Corrections.
"He did it through a fraud that actually went on for about seven months, from September of 2009 through April of 2010
37-year-old Albert Weathers of Buffalo and his 39-year-old girlfriend, Lisa Conroy of Amherst, pleaded guilty to a scheme.
Conroy collected about $9,000 in unemployment benefits for Weathers by logging on to the Labor Department's Website.
"She would log into the department of labor's Website for unemployment insurance benefits, and on more than 30 occasional she filed false certifications that Weathers was eligible for unemployment insurance. Of course he was at that time, during that period, a state prison inmate. So he was unemployed, but he certainly was not qualified for unemployment insurance," said Biben.
Biben said as technology improves, their investigators get better at uncovering this type of fraud and believes more cases could be discovered.
"These types of unemployment insurance frauds, in the first instance, would be the Labor Department, but we certainly would stand to be ready when they uncover these kind of frauds," said Biben.
Weathers and Conroy appeared before State Supreme Court Judge Penny Wolfgang in Buffalo Thursday.
Weathers pleaded guilty to one count of grand larceny. Conroy pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny. Both agreed to pay full restitution.