A South Berwick woman pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a charge of theft of government money after fraudulently stealing over $37,000 in COVID-era unemployment benefits.
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Cori Godin, 46, of South Berwick, pleaded guilty to the charges after she falsely claimed to be unemployed for over a year in order to receive unemployment insurance benefits, including both federal and state funds intended to help people forced out of work by the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine, the unemployment program relies on both federal and state funds and is intended to provide temporary assistance to workers who became unemployed through no fault of their own.
In March 2020, the program expanded eligibility and benefits during the COVID response.
For 13 months, spanning 2020 and 2021, Godin falsely claimed to be unemployed in order to obtain benefits and ultimately received $37,105 from the taxpayer-funded program.
She faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release.
