A former Jefferson resident was arrested for allegedly falsely reporting earnings for unemployment benefits.

According to court documents, an investigation began with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office on September 17th when they were notified by an Iowa Workforce Development Integrity Bureau Investigator about alleged fraudulent unemployment benefits. Court documents show that the integrity bureau investigator found out that 50-year-old Billie Jo Hovick of Carroll fraudulently obtained $12,165 of unemployment benefits after not properly reporting $23,838 of earnings from July 16, 2022 to August 13, 2022 on her weekly claims sheet for unemployment benefits to Iowa Workforce Development.

According to the integrity bureau investigator, Hovick had only paid $3,055 from income tax refunds to the Federal Income Tax Offset Program, but no other attempted payments were made to pay back the overpayment that was accepted. The Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy knew that Hovick was living in Jefferson during that time frame and questioned her on September 22nd at her Carroll residence. She admitted to receiving the overpayment but claimed that since she was going through personal things back then, she did not realize that the overpayments were made then. 

An arrest warrant was issued on October 7th and she was in custody on October 17th. She was booked and released from the Greene County Jail after posting a $10,000 bond. Raccoon Valley Radio will bring you more information as it becomes official.