Woman sentenced in unemployment benefits scheme
A woman who pleaded guilty to illegally filing for unemployment benefits on behalf of her son while he was jailed at SCI-Greene last year has been sentenced to probation.
Christina Marie Weigner, 49, was sentenced Oct. 19 by U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV to serve two years on probation and pay a $100 “special assessment” for her conviction on conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
Weigner admitted to filing for emergency benefits last summer and applying for 19 weeks of federal CARES Act stimulus benefits that paid $9,265 to her son, Levi Stroud, who was an inmate at SCI-Greene prison near Waynesburg.
Wagner, who is now living in Clarksburg, W.Va., has already repaid the entire sum, prompting prosecutors to agree that she should be placed on probation rather than serve time in prison, according to court documents.
Stroud, 25, of Hanover Township pleaded guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and was sentenced by Stickman to serve seven months in prison, followed by a year on supervised release.