Two employees of a Morgantown dental office were indicted by a federal grand jury earlier this week for allegedly collecting nearly $30, 000 in combined COVID-related unemployment benefits.
Amanda J. Kincell, 42, of Fairview, and Casey Fike, 39, of Morgantown, were charged with multiple counts of wire fraud, according to a press release from U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld’s office.
The indictments state the duo filed for unemployment in March 2020 when their employer, Devito Dental, was forced to temporarily close due to the COVID pandemic.
However, in May 2020, Kincell and Fike returned to work at the dental practice, but continued to request and receive unemployment benefits.
According to the indictments, the women submitted materially false applications to WorkForce West Virginia as well as fraudulent weekly certifications, falsely stating they were unemployed, not receiving wages or income, had not returned to work, and had not worked any hours for the week in question, when, in fact, they were employed, earning wages, and had returned to work.
Source: Local dental office employees charged with COVID unemployment fraud / Yahoo! News