A Whitehall woman who used stolen identities to file false unemployment claims in eight states was sentenced yesterday to four years in federal prison.
Audrey Costar, 46, of 819 Westphal Ave., also was ordered by U.S. District Judge James L. Graham to repay more than $78,000 in undeserved unemployment benefits that she received during a three-year period. She pleaded guilty in April to two counts of theft of government funds and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
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Investigators said Costar used 50 stolen identities to obtain benefits from Ohio, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, Montana, Pennsylvania and Utah between 2009 and 2012.
When one state cut her off, she would move to another and start again, investigators said.
Costar’s attorney, George M. Wolfe, said his client’s actions were fallout from long-term mental-health issues that worsened after a violent random assault in California in 2006. She is still being treated for complications from severe injuries she suffered in that attack and takes eight medications a day that include anti-psychotics and anxiety drugs, he said.
Unable to work, Costar became dependent on a scheme that the people who gave her the stolen identities swore was legitimate, Wolfe said. She kicked some of the money back to them, he said.
Costar’s criminal record predates the 2006 assault by more than 10 years.
“She does have a very long history of serious offenses, most of which involve fraud,” Graham said. “The court finds it very hard to believe that she engaged in this activity believing it was legitimate.”
