A former employee of the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office charged with fraudulently drawing more than $30,000 in unemployment benefits while working appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
Fifty-four-year-old Michelle Hood of Mountain Home entered a guilty plea to a charge of theft of public benefits.
Hood’s attorney, Justin Downum, told the court he had a cashier’s check to repay the entire amount that was taken. Hood was sentenced to four years probation.
WORKING ON RESTITUTION
Downum has asked for continuances in the case so that Hood could “work on getting funds together so she could return the money that was taken.”
According to the probable cause affidavit, an investigator with the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services went through records and noted the dates Hood was alleged to have “drastically under reported” her income, or claimed she was not working at all.
The Arkansas Department of Workforce Services notified the Baxter County Human Resource office that unemployment benefits had been paid to Hood during a period from the first quarter of 2020 through May 2021.
After the information was received, a criminal investigation was launched.
The county human resource office completed a wage audit for the period beginning March 23, 2020 through April 23, 2021. The audit was completed and furnished to the state agency.
Hood, who had been working as a secretary at the sheriff’s office since 2014, was placed on indefinite unpaid suspension in late May 2021 and discharged for cause on June 4, 2021.
The Baxter County Sheriffs Office, the Arkansas State Police and the state Department of Workforce Services investigated the matter.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI