MO state worker accused of helping several relatives and friends get unemployment insurance aid when they should not have

A state employee is accused of helping several relatives and friends get unemployment insurance aid in 2020 when they should not have. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Missouri says 63-year-old Vicky Hefner, of Jefferson County, has been indicted on three felony charges. 

She is accused of using her job within the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to send more than 140-thousand-dollars in unearned unemployment benefits to friends, relatives and others, and then getting kickbacks from them. 

Hefner has pleaded not guilty.