COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Inspector General’s Office says three former contract workers who handled pandemic unemployment claims improperly released about $3.28 million in benefits.
Inspector General Randall J. Meyer’s office reported that the money was tied to 248 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims. The findings were described in a report discussed publicly in late August.
According to the investigation as summarized by the Inspector General’s Office and subsequent official accounts:
Ferris Johnson, a TEKsystems subcontractor, worked a help-desk role on PUA claims in 2021. Investigators said he manipulated identity and eligibility issues and released previously denied benefits. Claims tied solely to Johnson were described as 47 claims totaling nearly $993,000.
Tosha Williams, also a TEKsystems subcontractor, was accused of altering eligibility issues without required documents. Investigators said she accessed and manipulated her own claim and claims belonging to relatives and friends. Claims tied solely to Williams were described as 169 claims totaling about $1.48 million.
A third former contract worker, Kenya Carter, was named with Johnson and Williams as part of the group whose actions added up to about $3,280,690.
ODJFS referred the Johnson allegation to the Inspector General in 2024. The probe later widened to Williams and Carter.
These are investigative findings, not courtroom verdicts. The Inspector General’s Office said it referred the matter to the Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney and the Ohio Auditor of State.
Congress created Pandemic Unemployment Assistance in 2020 for people who did not qualify for regular unemployment, including many self-employed workers. Eligibility rules were looser than the regular program.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services has said it paid about $7.6 billion in pandemic unemployment benefits in fiscal year 2021. ODJFS later flagged more than $1 billion of pandemic-era payments as fraudulent.
Meyer’s office has made PUA fraud a multi-year project. Its 2025 annual report said the office had opened 28 ODJFS and PUA investigations between 2021 and 2025, completed 20 related reports, identified about $30.6 million lost to the state in those completed PUA cases, and recorded 166 criminal charges and 30 convictions as of that report.
South-central Ohio residents who think they received a questionable pandemic claim letter, or who were contacted about an overpayment, should deal directly with ODJFS and should not pay anyone who cold-calls and asks for a prepaid card or gift card.
The Inspector General posts completed reports at watchdog.ohio.gov.
