Food Stamp (SNAP) and Welfare Fraud

[gyang1995]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: North Carolina. Recently, my mom Received a letter in the mail stating that she was under investigation for welfare fraud. My parents had been living separately for as long as I could remember now and just last year, my dad got sick to the point that he couldn't take care of himself anymore. So he moved Back to live with me and my mom for a while since no one could take care of him. Because it's been such a long time since they've been together, and with me being so busy with two jobs, I failed to notify the dss about changes since my mom is illiterate and doesn't speak English. We went to try and explain the situation to the investigator but all she did was twist our words around to make my mom guilty. I'm now scared for what's to come, because my mom is rather old now and speaks little to no english.

[comment/ator]

What happened is that when your father moved back in, it changed the number of people in the household. This changed your eligibility for needs based income driven assistance programs. Is your father receiving any form of income or assistance? If so, that income should've been figured into your household income as soon as he moved in.

Throw away all the stupid excuses, "because it's been such a long time since they've been together, and with me being so busy with two jobs" is a pitiful bad excuse for a reason that you committed fraud by failing to notify them of a change in your household circumstances. You DID commit fraud. She didn't have to twist your words around to make my mom guilty, your mom IS guilty. That's all there is to it. You and she failed to report a change in the number of people in the household. The case workers will try to determine what the actual amount of fraud commited was, and will impose sanctions. Probably it will be something like cutting your mother off assistance for a certain period of time.

If they prosecuted and jailed everyone who commits this type of fraud, the jails wouldn't have room for anyone else in them. The people who commit this type of fraud are usually too poor to pay hefty fines, as you cannot get income that just isn't there.

So what they tend to do is impose sanctions, as in that she will not qualify for assistance for a certain period of time, she receives like a six month or two year, or even in some cases, a lifetime sanction, some period of time in which she cannot receive assistance. But do not think that you can "get her out of this," or that an attorney would get her a lesser sanction or protect her or that you effectively can deny it happened. It DID happen.

Your mother had been informed very thoroughly in the process of signing up for assistance that she was to report any changes to the number of people in her household. Even if it was done through an interpreter, or you, it was done and she signed off agreeing to do it. And now she hasn't.

Only if she is actually handed over to court and prosecuted criminally for welfare fraud would you need to get an attorney, and this is far from happening. You might speak with the legal services in your area that provide free assistance for low income people, they might be able to help, but probably will not be needed.

Old people, even those who don't speak English can lie and attempt to deceive quite handily, and the assistance system checks everything top to bottom repeatedly, they rarely ever just take your word for anything. Many many people receiving assitance fail to mention people moving in with them, but as I said, they very rarely are prosecuted in court.

This is an agency and it makes agency decisions about most of the fraud cases they encounter. Tell the truth, which is all you can do, work with them, express your intention to take care of this and set the matter right, and it will likely work out without your mother suffering unduly for it.