Former couple accused of unemployment benefit fraud

WILLIAM MOORE, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo
·2 min read

TUPELO – A formerly married couple have been arrested by the state auditor’s office and charged with conspiracy to defraud the state of Mississippi.

State Auditor Shad White said Brandon Lynn Williams and Miranda Trulove conspired to obtain illegal unemployment benefits from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security while Williams was incarcerated and therefore ineligible to receive unemployment benefits.

Investigators said that Williams made numerous phone calls from prison to Trulove, his wife at the time, requesting that she help him apply for unemployment benefits. Allegedly, Williams received the illegal benefits via a Way2Go debit card. The unemployment card was then used by Trulove on numerous occasions.

“These are the latest arrests we’ve made for unemployment fraud,” White said. “We will continue to use the latest technology and investigative techniques to uncover fraud, which is how we’ve been able to recover more money in the last five years than any other five-year period.”

Trulove, 38, of Highway 6, Plantersville, was arrested May 2 and booked into the Lee County Jail at 2 p.m. She was released the following day after posting a $20,000 bond. Williams, 38, of Houston-Palestine Road, Baldwyn, remained free for a few more days. He was booked into the same jail on Monday, May 6, at 4:30 p.m. He has since bonded out of jail.

If convicted, Williams and Trulove could each face up to five years in prison and $1,000 in fines. All persons arrested by the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

This is not the first time the couple have been arrested on felony charges or the first time they have been arrested together. In 2010, they were arrested in Lee County and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell and conspiracy to sell. Both eventually pleaded guilty and were given suspended sentences.