A Coeur d’Alene man has been placed on three years probation and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service for illegally obtaining nearly $6,800 in unemployment benefits in 2007.
Nathan Ferguson, 28, a heavy equipment operator, was also ordered to make full restitution to the Idaho Department of Labor of not only the fraudulently obtained benefits but also $1,700 in penalties. He has already repaid nearly $2,800.
First District Judge John Mitchell reserved the right to jail Ferguson for up to 90 days if he fails to comply with all the provisions of his sentence.
Ferguson pleaded guilty to the felony charge of misrepresentation to obtain benefits on April 30 after investigators for the Idaho Department of Labor provided evidence of the crime to the Kootenai County Prosecutor’s Office. He was sentenced June 18.
After being laid off in 2007 from a job running heavy equipment, Ferguson collected 20 weeks of unemployment benefits without disclosing the fact that he was back on the job working for another employer as a heavy equipment operator. In fact he certified that he was not working at all.
Last year, Labor Department investigators identified over $2.6 million in fraudulent benefit collections on top of another $2.6 million in benefits paid that workers did not deserve. At the same time, the department’s Unemployment Insurance Compliance Bureau collected nearly $3.8 million in fraudulent benefits and benefit overpayments.