TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - A former employee of the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for stealing about $56,000 in unemployment benefits.
Lusselenia Lopez, 48, of Woodbridge, pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to commit official misconduct.
Lopez, a former clerk at the department, used her access to its computer system to alter claims to provide benefits to her family members and, in one case, steal benefits from a stranger, prosecutors said.
The investigation revealed that Lopez stole a total of more than $31,000 through two separate claims for unemployment insurance filed by one of her daughters, prosecutors said. In each instance, the daughter was deemed ineligible because she was terminated from her prior employment for cause, but Lopez went into the computer system to reverse the denial of benefits, prosecutors said.
Lopez helped a second daughter receive more than $9,000 in unemployment benefits to which she was not entitled, prosecutors said.
She and her two daughters, who also faced charges in the case, must pay restitution. Her daughters were admitted into a pretrial intervention program and the charges against them will be dismissed if they successfully complete the program.
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