Prosecutor: State Labor Employee Stole Unemployment Benefits From Friends

A Newark woman is accused of stealing about $60,000 in unemployment benefits from people she knew, including longtime friends, while she worked for the New Jersey Department of Labor.

Anna Catarino, 46, has been charged with fraud, computer theft and other offenses for transferring other people's unemployment benefits into her personal bank account, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said.

Catarino orchestrated the scheme from February to October 2013 while she was employed by the department of labor in Newark, the prosecutor's office said.

Catarino used names of people she knew who were receiving unemployment benefits to divert the funds from their account into hers, the prosecutor's office said. Some of the victims were longtime friends who Catarino helped to fill out the benefits forms, the prosecutor's office said.

"It is alleged that this defendant stole taxpayer money, intended for the unemployed, to enrich herself," said Deputy Chief Assistant Prosecutor Walter Dirkin, who supervises the Essex County Prosecutor's Office Official Corruption unit.

Catarino is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.