Plantersville woman sentenced in federal government fraud case

OXFORD – A Plantersville woman was sentenced Thursday to serve more than two years in a federal prison for submitting a fraudulent unemployment benefits application to the state in the name of an incarcerated relative.

Misty Lynn Burgess, 49, of Plantersville, submitted an application for unemployment benefits using her sister’s personal information in May 2020. At the time, her sister was an inmate at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl and therefore, ineligible for unemployment benefits. She was indicted in December 2023, charged with the theft of more than $15,000 in unemployment benefits from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security. She pleaded guilty to theft of government property in May.