Plea Expected In Fraud Case Tied To Church Minister

A member of a secretive church in North Carolina is expected to enter a plea connected to an unemployment fraud investigation.

Diane McKinny is scheduled for a plea hearing Friday in federal court. She is a member of Word of Faith Fellowship in Spindale. Her employer, Kent Covington was a minister there.

Prosecutors allege that Covington's business laid off employees in 2008 so they could collect unemployment benefits, but they continued to work at the company, with government money replacing their salaries.

Prosecutors say Covington used his position as a church leader to coerce employees to comply.

He was sentenced last month to almost three years in prison on a charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud.