A Franklin man has been sentenced to two years probation and has to pay back nearly $14,000 after being found guilty of unemployment insurance fraud.
Michael Blackwell, 30, was charged in September in Marion County with three counts of welfare fraud. He was found guilty earlier this month of a felony charge of welfare fraud involving between $750 and $50,000.
The fraud was discovered by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development which uses wage reports and new hire data from employers to find cases of fraud being committed by people who are getting unemployment insurance benefits, the department said in a news release.
Blackwell was sentenced to two years of probation and has to repay the Department of Workforce Development $13,942 for benefits he fraudulently received, the news release said.
A Fishers man, Daniel Berger, was sentenced to 545 days probation and has to repay $19,000 in a separate case also uncovered by the department.
The public is asked to report suspected cases of unemployment insurance fraud online at in.gov/dwd/fraud.
