Ex-Georgia lawmaker sentenced for pandemic fraud

ATLANTA - A former Georgia State Representative will have to fully repay the amount of money she stole from the government by fraudulently taking pandemic unemployment benefits, prosecutors said.

What we know:

Karen L. Bennett, who represented House District 94 until retiring last year, must repay the $13,940 in benefits she received plus a $1,000 fine and $100 assessment. U.S. District Judge Eleanor L. Ross did not sentence Bennett to jail time, instead sentencing her to time served.

The backstory:

According to court documents, Bennett collected $13,940 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and federal supplements between March and August 2020. Prosecutors allege Bennett claimed she was unable to work due to COVID-19 despite maintaining her role in the General Assembly and continuing to run her private business.

Karen Bennett in her official Georgia House of Representatives portrait.  (Georgia General Assembly )

In her May 2020 application, Bennett reportedly told the Georgia Department of Labor that her primary livelihood as a physical therapist was halted by the pandemic. She claimed she was "unable to reach my place of employment because of a quarantine imposed as a direct result of the COVID-19 public health emergency."

However, investigators say Bennett’s role at her company, Metro Therapy Providers, Inc., was actually administrative and based out of her home office. Prosecutors allege she was never prohibited from working at her home and that the company continued to receive income throughout the pandemic. The charges also state that Bennett failed to disclose a separate weekly paycheck of $905 she received from a church during the same period.

Local perspective:

After she was charged, she resigned her position as a representative, telling Gov. Brian Kemp that she was retiring effective Jan. 1, 2025. She did not state the reason for her retirement in the letter.