NORTH HAVERHILL – A West Lebanon man was sentenced on Wednesday in Grafton Superior Court to two and a half to five years in state prison for submitting false unemployment claims and collecting benefits checks while incarcerated.
Peter Mancini, 48, entered guilty pleas to unemployment compensation fraud and perjury in connection with a scheme in which he received more than $11,000 in unemployment compensation, including over $2,000 after his incarceration for a separate offense in January of this year.
His girlfriend, Hannah Vanalstyne, 42, was indicted in May on felony charges of unemployment compensation fraud and theft by receiving stolen property for helping Mancini collect benefits while he was locked up.
In March, Department of Employment Security investigators identified Mancini through a monthly review of jail rosters, discovering that after filing for unemployment in August 2025, he falsely represented that an offer of employment was rescinded through no fault of his own.
“(Mancini) lost his job opportunity at Nissan of Lebanon because he had been caught on camera stealing parts from one of their trucks,” the affidavit in support of the charges states.
In January, Mancini entered a guilty plea to receiving stolen property and a probation violation — court records show he was on probation at the time for a 2022 felony conviction of witness tampering. He was taken into custody to serve a six-month sentence in Grafton County Jail.
From when he was incarcerated through February, when his benefits were exhausted, Mancini, with the help of his girlfriend, Vanalstyne, “acted in concert to represent that Mancini performed work searches and/or was available and able to work without restrictions, omitting that Mancini was incarcerated,” the affidavit says.
Vanalstyne, at Mancini’s request, certified weekly that he was “available to work” and was “physically and mentally able to work without any restrictions” while he was in jail, investigators found.
Vanalstyne also attested, on Mancini’s behalf, that he was searching for jobs over this period although he was prohibited from computer or internet access in jail. Mancini also claimed to have made an in-person job search at West Lebanon Feed and Supply. The business told police he had not applied in person, and the Grafton County Jail confirmed he was in custody the day he claimed to have done so.
Over jail calls, Mancini and Vanalstyne discussed unemployment benefits, including asking and reminding her to file his weekly claims on the computer in their West Lebanon residence.
During an interview with police at the West Lebanon residence she shared with Mancini, Vanalstyne “admitted to making the claims because Mancini had asked her to,” according to the affidavit.
A voicemail left for Vanalstyne was not immediately returned on Wednesday.
After signing a notice of intent to plead guilty to unemployment compensation fraud earlier this month, she is scheduled for a plea and sentencing hearing on August 18 at 10:30 a.m. in Grafton Superior Court.
At Mancini’s plea and sentencing on Wednesday in Grafton Superior Court, Judge Lawrence MacLeod accepted Peter Mancini’s guilty pleas to felony charges of unemployment compensation fraud and perjury.
A previously suspended sentence of two and a half to five years from the aforementioned 2022 witness tampering case was brought forward by the court as a result of Mancini’s recent charges of unemployment compensation fraud.
A plea and sentencing agreement fully negotiated by both the state and defense stipulated the 2022 sentence to run concurrent with a sentence of two and a half years to five years for the charge of unemployment compensation fraud, with a sentence of one and a half years for the perjury charge suspended for 10 years. The agreement also grants Mancini 110 days of pretrial confinement credit.
The court accepted the sentence, which also orders Mancini to pay over $11,000 in restitution to the New Hampshire Department of Employment Security.
Both the prosecutor, Amanda Jacobson, and the defense, Dalton Ford, declined to comment when approached by the Valley News after Wednesday’s hearing.
The original title of this article said the man was charged; it has been changed to reflect that he was sentenced.
