A woman was arrested in Epworth for falsely claiming nearly $18,000 in COVID-19 unemployment benefits. Holly Jacobi is charged in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids with theft of government funds. She has pleaded not guilty. Documents state that Jacobi filed a fraudulent application for Iowa unemployment benefits on April 6, 2020. Jacobi claimed she was entitled to at least $17,888 in unemployment benefits because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the application, she claimed she was laid off from her company, in which she was employed as a human resources manager at the time. Jacobi was arrested on Friday in Epworth after a grand jury returned an indictment against her last week. Jacobi’s trial is scheduled to take place on April 18 in Cedar Rapids.
