Unemployment fraud while in jail - Navajo man

[NMinquiry]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Mexico

An unmarried couple has a daughter together. The father has been in and out of jail for DUI and other violations. The mother has always tried to help him get on his feet, get and keep a job, and be a good father and hopefully they could remain together as a family. The father is Navajo, the mother is caucasion. The latest incident had him in jail shortly after he became unemployed and he had filed and started to receive unemployment. While he was in jail, he sent a letter to unemployment in order for them to continue processing. He asked the mother of his daughter to complete forms online in order to continue and also signed a power of attorney form so she could access the account and give him money in jail when needed. He also allowed her to use the money as she needed for her and the child. The mother did. He was released not long ago after 3 months in jail. He spent a week with his daughter and her mother and then left town to what was later found out to be another dirnking binge. He called his daughter's mother's home after being MIA for a week and was told he needed to come back for his things. He showed up a day or 2 later and retrieved his belongings along with the checkbook which had a smaller balance than original....as he should have expected. He was also not allowed to see his daughter as he had been unkind to her of late and the mother did not feel it was the right thing to do. The father, I assume because he is unhappy with the outcome, has now said that he has gone to the police to tell them that the mother had filled out unemployment paperwork online for him. He also mentioned that she "stole" the money from his account. It was her understanding that she was to use the money as she was (and still is) unemployed, he was in jail, and she has been raising their daughter the last 5 years....while he has been in and out of their lives...never having paid child support. Child support was filed but there are some complications due to his heritage.

Could the mother be held responsible in any way for the fraud...criminally...and/or would she need to reimburse any of the money?

 

[commentator]

Not really, if he were stu-u-u-upid enough to try to get the wife in trouble, it'd be him who got in the actual trouble, he who had the overpayment, he who has been certifying, regardless of who did it for him. One is given a PIN number to access his account. If he has allowed another person to use his PIN and do his certs, the fraud is still attributed to him.

If he "goes to the police" they'll tell him it's not a criminal charge, that he needed to report it to the unemployment department in his state. Even if he swore on a stack of Bibles that he didn't know and she was doing it without his knowledge, he'd still be the one they(unemployment office, not the police!) come after to to pay the money back. They will not prosecute him, probably, under the 'blood out of a turnip' doctrine, but would assess an overpayment, request that he pay it back, and even could garnish wages or take him to court to try to get the money back.

That said, Mamma was STILL committing fraud, consciously, knowingly and was in the wrong. She knew she was NOT entitled to this money, just did it out of greed. It was there to get, and she did it. She should feel guilty. He should be mad at her, because she agreed to get it fraudulently, then didn't leave him as much as he expected (boo hoo!). In truth, she shouldn't ever have done what he told her to in the first place, though she got more than he intended her to get. Neither of you ever had a right to this money. He was not able and available for work while incarcerated.

If mamma has been receiving any kind of public assistance, she would be very vulnerable to being reported for fraud (by him) unless she was reporting her receipt of this unemployment money. And somebody will be paying income tax on it next year.

 

[NMinquiry]

Thank you.