NK Woman Sentenced for Unemployment Benefits Fraud

NORTH KINGSTOWN, RI—A 47-year-old North Kingstown woman accused of unemployment insurance fraud will pay back the state $8,961 after pleading no contest to charges of felony obtaining money under false pretenses on Tuesday.

Additionally, Michelle Dickens was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years probation after entering a her plea in Superior Court, according to Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin.

Dickens was alleged to have collected unemployment benefits "on diverse dates" between June 30 and Nov. 3 of 2012, according to court records. At the time, she was employed by Coastal Medical in Cranston.

“Despite enhanced enforcement by the State, individuals continue to think they can get away with defrauding our unemployment insurance system," Kilmartin said in a statement. "Yet, as this case proves, as well as the dozens others we have prosecuted, any attempt to do so will be detected, investigated and effectively prosecuted,” said Attorney General Kilmartin.

Department of Labor and Training investigators opened the case and referred it to the state police, who filed the felony charge in June of this year.

The Office of Attorney General has a prosecutor devoted just to fraud cases referred by the state labor department involving unemployment insurance as well as workers' compensation fraud and wage and labor standard violations.