Tilton man sentenced for unemployment fraud

TILTON — A Tilton man was ordered to serve 12 days in a correctional facility after pleading guilty to fraudulently collecting more than three months of unemployment benefits, the state’s Department of Employment Security reported.

Patrick Buchanan, of Tilton, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Jan. 24 in Hillsborough Superior Court-Southern District, on one count of unemployment compensation fraud, a Class A misdemeanor.

According to Employment Security, Buchanan filed for 13 weeks of unemployment benefits between Feb. 14, 2015, and Sept. 13, 2015, while failing to report his employment, in order to obtain or increase his benefits. As a result, Buchanan fraudulently received $4,109 in unemployment benefits, the agency said.

Buchanan was sentenced to a year in the house of correction, with all but 10 days deferred for six months and then suspended for two years, on condition of good behavior. Another condition of the sentence was that the agency can use Buchanan’s likeness in the Department of Employment Security Benefits Rights Interview which discusses the ramifications of committing unemployment fraud. Further, Buchanan was disqualified from receiving benefits for a year, and was ordered to repay all of the benefits that he received during his 13 weeks of filing for unemployment, plus a 20 percent penalty, totaling $5,007.60.