MARION COUNTY, Tenn. — A woman from Marion County got more than four years in prison after admitting she lied to Tennessee and three other states to get COVID-19 unemployment payments between 2020 and 2021.
The DOJ says that Evelyn Blevins, 48, of South Pittsburg, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft while she was a part of a plan to steal COVID-19 unemployment benefits in Tennessee, Alabama, Pennsylvania, and California. Blevins got 51 months in jail and then had to be watched for five years after he got out.
The DOJ said that Blevins and others came up with a plan between June 2020 and August 2021 in which she got personal information from other people and used it to make a lot of online claims for jobless benefits that were set aside to help people who had been affected by the pandemic. The states then sent debit cards to people in East Tennessee, and Blevins got some of the money.
Blevins is said to have been responsible for stealing and giving away almost $110,000 of the more than $550,000 that was made in the plan. Blevins has been told to repay the Tennessee and California Departments of Labor with $109,683, and she will also have to give the same amount to the US government.
United States Attorney Francis M. Hamilton, III said, “The defendant selfishly tried to take advantage of federal and state efforts to help those most hurt by the COVID pandemic.” “We are still committed to working with all law enforcement to find and prosecute people who steal from federal relief plan programs and keep people who need them from getting them.”