Tripple Dipping

When you think of triple-dipping, perhaps ice cream cones with your favorite flavors come to mind. A Chicago Tribune story tells about how a man triple-dipped by stealing unemployment benefits from the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training (RI-DLT) while working two other jobs at the same time. (His triple-dipping efforts had nothing to do with ice cream at all.)

The story states that the Rhode Island man was working for two companies while simultaneously filing unemployment claims. He failed to accurately report his weekly earnings to the RI-DLT when dialing in on the agency’s voice response system. As a result, he was able to collect more than $10,000 in unemployment benefits over two years. (That’s like adding whipped cream and a cherry on top to a banana split.)

The 41-year-old pleaded no contest to one count of obtaining money under false pretenses. He was sentenced to 63 months of probation and ordered to pay at least $150 per month in restitution for receiving $10,622 of unemployment benefits he was not entitled to receive.

This fraudster may have rationalized that he somehow deserved the unemployment benefits that he was receiving. (Perhaps he had been off from work for a bit and wanted to make up for what he had lost in earnings while unemployed.) Whatever the justification may have been, his criminal acts defrauded the state benefits program and the businesses that fund it. (Let’s hope that he now understands that triple-dipping should be limited to ice cream.)