Woman pleads guilty in SCI fraud case
A Westmoreland County woman pleaded guilty to fraud for filing an application for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program in the name of an inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Greene.
Tracy Ann Stankiewicz, 49, of Arnold, represented that she was the inmate, indicating she was unemployed as a result of the pandemic, and could accept a job if one were officered. Federal prosecutors said Thursday she admitted to police that she received about $11,000 in PUA funds between June 6 and July 12.
PUA funds provided an emergency increase in unemployment compensation benefits of $600 per week.
Stankiewicz will be sentenced on June 10, and could face up to 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both.