An Austin woman pleaded not guilty to allegedly receiving nearly $20,000 in benefits by withholding employment information from the state of Minnesota.

Maria Yazmin Moreno Perez, 31, and Juan Ortiz Ramirez, 37, have each been charged with one count of wrongfully obtaining assistance — a felony. Perez entered her plea in Mower County Court on Thursday. Ramirez has not entered a plea yet.

According to a court complaint, police searched Perez and Ramirez’s home in the 200 block of Grove Street NW in Brownsdale on Jan. 6 and found several documents under the aliases of Eunice Bautista and Jose Perez. Upon further investigation, officers discovered they had both been receiving unemployment benefits and hadn’t reported their employment using their aliases.

When officers questioned Perez, she said she had not been employed since November 2002, but she has actually been employed at DiaServe in Blooming Prairie and Hormel Foods since 2005. Since 2005, she has earned around $91,000 from both jobs, according to a court complaint. Ramirez has worked at Quality Pork Processors since 1998 and made $290,546 between then and 2010.

Together, Perez and Ramirez received $19,653 in overpayments due to intentionally withholding their employment information from the government.

Perez is scheduled for a jury trial on Aug. 15. Ramirez is wanted on a warrant.