ROCKLAND, Maine — A 39-year-old Owls Head man pleaded guilty Tuesday to receiving unemployment benefits while working.
Kevin Blackwell pleaded guilty to felony theft in exchange for a deferred disposition that would result in him serving seven days in jail.
Justice Richard Mulhern accepted the plea agreement negotiated between Assistant District Attorney Jeff Baroody and defense attorney Roger Hurley. Under the agreement, if Blackwell refrains from criminal conduct and makes $200 monthly payments over the next year, he will be sentenced to six months in jail with all but seven days suspended and be placed on probation for two years. During the probationary period, he will have to pay off the remaining $5,940 he illegally received in unemployment benefits.
Blackwell was receiving benefits when he was hired and worked as a painter, according to the prosecution.