Siblings can share numerous traits in common, including genes, shared experiences, and even personality characteristics – characteristics that describe behavior and emotions, which can also include criminal patterns. Criminal behavior, however, is not simply the result of one gene. Crime is also the result of one’s choices! And brother and sister Artista Garner and Thaddieus Cooper may have shared some personality traits that incline them towards criminal thought. But they made the choice to fraudulently obtain unemployment insurances benefits they weren’t eligible for.
Cooper was serving a sentence of six years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections custody for armed robbery. As an inmate in the MDOC, Cooper was not entitled to receive unemployment insurance benefits. Unemployment benefits are generally not paid to individuals who are incarcerated because they are not considered able and available to work. But when the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) program added a weekly supplement of $600 to the amount individuals received in state unemployment, Garner and Cooper decided they had to steal from the U.S. taxpayer.
Using her brother’s name, Garner fraudulently applied for and received benefits from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security. Garner used the unemployment funds for her personal benefit, but she did transfer some of the funds to Cooper via his commissary fund.
On January 30, 2025, Cooper and Garner pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Great job by the National Unemployment Insurance Fraud Task Force, a first-of-its-kind task force that developed a data sharing and lead development process, using data from pandemic relief programs. The NUIFTF has used that process to disseminate over 100 leads and intelligence associated with over $3 billion in suspected pandemic fraud.
Great job by the U.S, Department of Labor in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Forrest Co. siblings plead guilty to COVID relief fraud” published by WDAM7 on February 4, 2025.
Two siblings from Hattiesburg pled guilty to conspiring with each other to receive unemployment insurance benefits related to the COVID-19 benefits fraudulently. Artista Garner, 36, and her brother Thaddieus Cooper, 31, had applied for benefits with the Mississippi Department of Employment Security. As an inmate of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, Cooper was not entitled to receive unemployment insurance benefits. Cooper was serving a sentence of six years in MDOC custody for armed robbery. Garner used the employment funds for her benefit and transferred some of the funds to Cooper via his commissary fund.
