A pair of Mississippians are now behind bars for an unemployment benefits scam.
State Auditor Shad White announced on Tuesday that special agents from his office took Thaddieus Cooper and Arista Garner into custody for conspiracy to defraud the state.
Cooper is reported to have made phone calls to Garner, his sister, asking her to fill out an unemployment application with the Mississippi Department of Employment Security on his behalf while he was behind bars.
The inmate received the illegal benefits via a Way2Go debit card. Garner also used the unemployment card for personal use on numerous occasions, investigators found.
“These are the latest arrests we’ve made for unemployment fraud,” White said. “Thank you to the investigators who worked on this case in my office and the prosecutors who chose to take it.”
If convicted, Cooper and Garner could each face up to five years in prison and $1,000 in fines.
