Woman accused of lying to keep widow benefits

Published 10:52 pm Thursday, September 10, 2009

MARYSVILLE — A Marysville woman is accused of stealing more than $120,000 in widow benefits despite being married.

The woman began collecting benefits from the state Department of Labor and Industries after her husband was killed in a 1999 work-related accident.

Investigators say the woman, 36, continued to collect widow benefits even after she married another man in Georgia in 2006. On three separate occasions she failed to report that she had remarried, court papers said. The woman never notified the state that her marital status had changed and signed forms to receive payments using her former last name.

The woman allegedly told a state investigators she deliberately withheld the information in order to keep receiving widow benefits.

Between July 2006 and June 2009, she collected $121,681 in benefits based on false information, court papers said. The woman has been charged with 34 counts of first-degree theft.