(RALEIGH) – Some state legislators point to a case in Scotland County that cost a businessman thousands of dollars and affected his firm’s unemployment credit rating as a prime example of why the penalty for unemployment fraud should be increased from a misdemeanor to a felony. In 2011 Gerri Clark, 41, was charged with over 90 counts of unemployment fraud dating back to 2009. Under state law, she could only be charged with a misdemeanor; she pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor on July 13, 2011 in a Scotland County court.