The COVID-19 pandemic triggered an avalanche of emergency spending from Washington—but as we’re learning now, it also opened the floodgates for fraud. And in Georgia, two Democratic lawmakers are now facing federal indictments for doing what so many others did during the pandemic: seeing a crisis not as a challenge to serve their constituents, but as an opportunity to cash in.
The latest to face the music is former Georgia State Rep. Karen Bennett, a six-term Democrat who represented parts of DeKalb and Gwinnett counties in the Atlanta suburbs. On Monday, she was indicted on one count of making false statements in connection with an application for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)—a program designed to help people who couldn’t qualify for regular unemployment during the height of the pandemic.
According to the indictment, Bennett claimed that her therapy business—Metro Therapy Providers, Inc.—was effectively shut down due to quarantine restrictions, even though she operated out of a home office and wasn’t seeing patients in person to begin with. Prosecutors say that meant the pandemic didn’t meaningfully halt her work, making her claim for $13,940 in federal benefits a lie.
It’s not just the money. It’s the principle.
While countless small business owners and employees scrambled to survive, a sitting state lawmaker—who still had her job in the Georgia General Assembly—allegedly padded her income with emergency funds intended for the truly displaced. If true, it’s the kind of quiet theft that rarely makes front pages but chips away at public trust in government one false claim at a time.
Bennett pleaded not guilty and was released on bond, but the charge carries a potential five-year federal prison sentence and a hefty fine.
And she’s not alone.
Just weeks earlier, current State Rep. Sharon Henderson, also a Democrat, was indicted on twelve counts stemming from a similar scam. Prosecutors allege she claimed to have been laid off from Henry County Schools due to the pandemic. But Henderson had only worked as a substitute teacher—for five days—back in 2018. Her contract explicitly stated it didn’t entitle her to unemployment benefits.
Worse still, Henderson allegedly kept filing weekly unemployment certifications even after being sworn into the Georgia House of Representatives. She was literally collecting pandemic relief while serving as an elected official.
The total in her case: $17,811 in fraudulently obtained benefits.
Both women were highly visible in their communities, holding positions on committees, appearing at public health events, and—ironically—advocating for healthcare equity and economic justice. Yet if the indictments are accurate, they exploited the very system they claimed to protect.
There’s no need to exaggerate or politicize this. The facts speak loudly enough. The people entrusted with public power used their insider knowledge and access to exploit emergency aid for personal gain.
