A Fairfax woman who is involved in a lawsuit against the state pled guilty today to embezzling thousands of dollars in unemployment benefits. Forty-one-year-old Linda Pippen pled guilty in federal court in Cedar Rapids to one count of embezzlement and one count of aggravated identity theft.
Under a plea agreement, she admitted to taking $43,582 dollars in unemployment insurance funds by altering the computerized records at the Iowa Workforce Development office in Cedar Rapids. In a period between May of 2008 and November of 2009, Pippen admitted to changing the accounts to show that individuals should continue to receive unemployment benefits after they were no longer eligible for those benefits.
She then altered bank account information to send the money to bank accounts she controlled. Pippen is one of the people named in a lawsuit against the state which says African Americans were unfairly turned down for state jobs and promotions.
The embezzlement charge carries a minimum sentence of two years in prison and a maximum of 12 years in prison with a $500,000 fine.