(Providence, RI) -- A former Rhode Island state employee is spending the next 21 months behind bars for stealing more than a half-million dollars in benefits from the state's unemployment insurance system. The U.S. Attorney's office says 37-year old Ambulai Sheku pled guilty yesterday to conspiracy, theft of government funds and accessing a protected computer to commit fraud. Sheku is also ordered to pay restitution of more than $486,000.