A former Iowa Workforce Development worker was sentenced to four years in federal prison today for embezzlement. Forty-two-year old Linda Pippen was sentenced after pleading guilty to one charge of embezzlement from a program receiving federal funds and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Pippen was a workforce advisor in Cedar Rapids where she admitted to embezzling over $43,500 in unemployment insurance funds. She admitted to altering several accounts to show that people who were no longer eligible for unemployment benefits could continue receiving those benefits, and then funneled the money into a bank account she controlled.

In addition to her four-year prison term, Pippen was ordered to pay back the money she took to Iowa Workforce Development.