UPDATE: Another suspect in pandemic unemployment fraud scheme pleads guilty in federal court in Abingdon

A Lee County, Virginia woman has pleaded guilty to charges of cheating the state unemployment commission out of nearly $700,000 in pandemic benefits.

Farren Ricketts, 30, will be sentenced in October. She used the state’s website to sign up for the additional funding the US government sent out to help those affected by the pandemic.

Ricketts and 30 other people are accused of sending bogus claims to the IRS using the identities of 100 individuals. She also facing jail time for mail fraud and identity theft.

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