NEW SCOTLAND — A Slingerlands resident has been arrested for over $6,000 in unemployment fraud, after the New York State Department of Labor conducted an investigation, according to a press release from New York State Police.

Joseph F. Donnelly Jr., 34, was arrested by State Police in New Scotland on Dec. 26 for third-degree grand larceny. He was additionally charged with first-degree falsifying business records, as he was lying about being unemployed, and first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, when he filled out the paperwork, according to Trooper Mark Cepiel. Both of these crimes are felonies.

According to Cepiel, Donnelly collected over $6,000 in unemployment benefits between February and June of 2016. The labor department launched an investigation into his claims, which prompted the arrest by State Police, as the labor department does not have powers of arrest.

Donnelly was sent to Albany County’s jail in lieu of $5,000 bail, and is scheduled to appear in Bethlehem Town Court, according to the police press release.

According to a representative from Albany County’s jail, Donnelly was last held in the county jail in November 2008, for a violation of probation. He had also been held there in 2006 for possession of a controlled substance, and twice in 2007, once for a driving-while-intoxicated charge and once for an unspecified felony.

Donnelly was contacted by The Enterprise but did not return a call for comment.

The New York State Department of Labor recovered $1.35 million in fraudulently collected unemployment insurance benefits in the first quarter of 2016, the largest quarterly total on record, according to a state press release from March 2016. Albany County contributed more than $91,712 in total restitution.