BATON ROUGE - A former Louisiana Workforce Commission employee pled guilty to wire fraud after using emergency financial assistance enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic to defraud the state of $200,000.

According to the Department of Justice, Paris Haynes, 28, entered fraudulent information into Louisiana's system for managing Pandemic Unemployment Assistance while employed with the LWC.

She used this to obtain benefits she was not entitled from her Texas residence and elsewhere by changing existing applications for benefits and redirected those applications to her own bank accounts before certifying them. She made changes to about 40 claimant accounts.

Haynes also certified herself as unemployed due the pandemic in her own name despite being terminated for misconduct.