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First it was the families of dead people and state employees. Now, authorities say Internal Revenue Service employees in Tennessee were stealing unemployment and other benefits while fully employed.
On Thursday, 13 of those employees were indicted on federal charges that they lied to get unemployment, food stamps, welfare and housing vouchers. An additional 11 have been indicted on state charges of theft greater than $1,000.
In all, authorities say the workers improperly received more than $250,000 in government benefits.
Youve got these employees that are taking advantage of the system that they are so intimate with it by virtue of their jobs, said Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirech, whose office is handling the state prosecutions. Its doubly frustrating.
The investigation originated with the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, a Treasury Department agency that is responsible for oversight of the IRS. The agency in recent years has been focusing on IRS employees who illegally draw government benefits as part of what they call Operation Double Dip. Continue reading via The Tennessean...
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