PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A former Rhode Island state employee has pleaded guilty in federal court to altering computer files to steal more than $500,000 in benefits from the state’s unemployment insurance system.

Federal prosecutors say Ambulai Sheku pleaded guilty in Providence on Tuesday to conspiring to commit mail fraud, theft of government funds and accessing a protected computer to commit fraud.

Authorities say the 37-year-old Sheku used his position as an interviewer with the state Department of Labor and Training to access computer files and unlawfully obtain unemployment benefits for himself and others.

Prosecutors say about $350,000 of about $500,000 in benefits that Sheku fraudulently obtained were funded by the federal government.

The scheme ran between June 2009 and February 2015.

His sentencing is scheduled for February.

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