A 48-year-old Caledonia man is facing felony charges after officials with the Department of Workforce Development say he defrauded the state when he filed unemployment claims despite being employed.
Online court records confirm Michael Koshen was a no-show in court Thursday to face a single felony charge of fraud. If convicted, he faces up to 3-1/2 years in prison and/or up to $10,000 in fines.
According to the criminal complaint, between June and September 2012 Koshen filed unemployment claims despite being employed with Adecco USA, Inc. and earning over $4,000 in wages during that time period. He was paid almost $4,000 in unemployment benefits as a result of his fraudulent weekly claim filing, which included lying about quitting work with Adecco when, in fact, he had quit and continued to file claims.
DWD caught up with Koshen last August, and he admitted that he filed the claims as if he wasn’t working at all or had quit his job because he needed the money, the complaint continues.
A criminal complaint against Koshen was filed last month, and he was scheduled for his initial appearance Thursday but was a no-show. A warrant has not yet been issued for his arrest.