PIMA COUNTY, Ariz. — Three people have been sentenced to federal prison after they recruited jail inmates in Arizona to fraudulently apply for unemployment benefits offered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bethany Green, 46, of Texas was recently sentenced to three years in prison for participating in a financial scheme that scammed over $220,000 in unemployment benefits from the Arizona Department of Economic Security.
Her husband, Patrick Green, was sentenced last week to 14 months in prison for helping Bethany to carry out the scam, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office of Arizona.
In May 2020, Patrick was an inmate in the Pima County jail and he conspired with his wife and another inmate, Jonathan Blake, to fraudulently obtain financial assistance.
The inmates gave Bethany their personal info so she could apply for unemployment benefits from the state.
At this time, the government was paying out an extra $600 in unemployment assistance to residents in Arizona, but the jail inmates weren't eligible for these benefits.
Green and Blake then began recruiting other jail inmates to give their info to Bethany, who would charge the inmates an initial fee of $1,000 to complete the online unemployment application and an ongoing $100 fee each week.
In the end, a total of 16 inmates had obtained about $226,000 in Arizona unemployment funds.
Prosecutors said Bethany was the most culpable for the scam out of the three defendants who were charged.
"The defendant appears to have devised the scheme, filed all the claims, and collected fees from the other participants to file and manage their fraudulent claims," court records state.
All three defendants were ordered to pay $226,146 in restitution.
Bethany was previously arrested in February 2021 for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants in southern Arizona, court records show.
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