A northern Idaho woman has been placed on three years probation after admitting she illegally obtained more than $6,200 in unemployment insurance benefits over a nine-month period in 2004 and 2005.
Charlotte Gross, 50, of Kootenai County could also be imprisoned for up to four years if she fails to comply with the probation terms imposed by 1st District Judge Lansing Haynes on Monday. Haynes gave Gross’s probation office authority to jail her up to 90 days if the officer believes incarceration for that briefer period is warranted.
Gross, who had been working for a high-tech company and a call center, claimed unemployment benefits against the accounts of each at different periods over the nine months without disclosing that she was actually working at the time. In addition to the illegally collected benefits, she was also slapped with $1,550 in civil penalties. All but $1,001 of the combined amount has been recovered through garnishments. She must repay that balance as part of her sentence.
The case was developed by investigators for the Idaho Department of Labor and prosecuted by the Kootenai County Prosecutor’s Office.
In the last two fiscal years, 2006 and 2007, Department of Labor investigators have identified over $7 million in fraudulent benefit claims that carry more than $1 million in penalties. The state will pay about $160 million in unemployment benefits in 2008.
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