WHITE PLAINS – State officials Tuesday announced that 49 people in the Hudson Valley have been charged with several felonies for attempting to defraud the state’s unemployment insurance program.

Most of those arrested collected unemployment insurance benefits while they were earning a paycheck.

In Westchester County, 25 cases were reported worth $96,000 in benefits. In Dutchess, 11 cases were reported worth almost $42,000. In Orange County, nine cases were worth $39,000; In Ulster, there were two cases worth almost $5,000; in Rockland County, was case was worth $6,000; in Putnam, one case was worth $5,700; and in Putnam County, one case was worth $5,700.

“Unemployment insurance is a lifeline that keeps thousands of families afloat across New York State during difficult times,” said Labor Commissioner Patricia Smith. “As New Yorkers continue to reel from the effects of a nationwide downturn in the economy, it is nothing short of shameful to think that people would steal from a fund designed to help families put food on the table, gas in their cars and clothes on the backs of their children.”