UPDATE: Four more suspects receive jail time in federal pandemic fund scheme case

Four more people arrested in a pandemic benefit fraud case that has more than two dozen suspects from Southwest Virginia were sentenced to federal jail time.

Patrick Payne, 43, and, Steven Mullins, 34, both of Big Stone Gap, Randall Johnson, 42, of Castlewood, and Ajay Johnson, 26, of Fruitland, Florida were convicted of participating in a scheme that scammed a half-million dollars from the government.

Prosecutors said the participants used the identities of several inmates at regional jails to file for unemployment benefits.

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