Braintree Man Among 4 Charged With Unemployment Fraud

BRAINTREE, MA — A Braintree man and three other people were indicted Thursday after state prosecutors said they stole more than $170,000 in unemployment benefits in unrelated cases.

William Corkery, 55, of Braintree, was charged with six counts of unemployment fraud and three counts of larceny over $250. Also charged were Marcelle Prou, 44, of New Bedford, Susan Richardson, 57, of Brockton, and Nancy Webby, 56, of Berlin.

According to Attorney General Maura Healey's office, Corkery worked and underreported his wages during 57 weeks of three unemployment claims between 2014 and 2017. Prosecutors said Corkery fraudulently collected more than $35,000 in employment benefits.

Prou, Richardson and Webby were all charged with eight counts of unemployment fraud and four counts of larceny over $250.

Investigators said Prou collected more than $60,000 of fraudulent unemployment, $35,000 was collected by Richardson and another $40,000 by Webby. According to Prosecutors both Prou and Richardson's fraud schemes took place between 2014 and 2017, while Webby committed fraud between 2015 and 2018.

All four were scheduled to appear in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston at a later date.