A man who reportedly received Mississippi unemployment benefits while in prison and a woman, who was his wife at the time, have been arrested for unemployment fraud.

On Thursday, State Auditor Shad White announced Special Agents from his office have arrested Brandon Williams and Miranda Trulove for conspiracy to defraud the State of Mississippi to obtain illegal unemployment benefits from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES) while Williams was incarcerated and, therefore, ineligible to receive unemployment benefits.

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,” said State Auditor Shad White. We will continue to use the latest technology and investigative techniques to uncover fraud, which is how we’ve recovered more money in the last five years than in any other five-year period.”

Williams and Trulove could face up to 5 years in prison and $1,000 in fines if convicted. All persons arrested by the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Suspected fraud can be reported to the Auditor’s office online at any time by clicking the red button at www.osa.ms.gov or calling 1-(800)-321-1275 during normal business hours.