A woman who worked as a benefit assistant for a California county has pleaded guilty to scamming the state’s food stamp program by stealing the identities of dead people and immigrants, then approving applications in their names.
Leticia Mariscal worked for Madera County’s Department of Social Services as an eligibility worker, which meant she was supposed to help people apply for government benefits.
She used her access to county databases to steal information about elderly, deceased or noncitizen residents, then secretly approved food stamp payment cards in their names. She picked those types of people because she figured they were the least likely to report anything fishy, prosecutors said.
In the case of the immigrants, she called them up and implied they would face immigration consequences if they kept collecting benefits, so they stopped. She then siphoned those benefits to herself.
Mariscal printed out extra payment cards, set the PINs herself, and either she or her relatives made purchases against the accounts.
All told, she admitted to stealing benefits using more than 15 bogus identities, making more than 900 transactions and banking more than $40,000 over three years from CalFresh, California’s food stamp program.
She pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal charge of aggravated identity theft.
Investigators were tipped off to the scheme last April when a colleague noticed a 91-year-old food stamp beneficiary was flagged for missing paperwork. When that employee called the woman’s son to ask about it, the man said his mother wasn’t signed up for food stamps because she was in an assisted living facility where all her meals were taken care of.
Local authorities investigated and discovered Mariscal had approved benefits for the woman a year earlier.
She was placed on leave at the time — but, the FBI said, she still made transactions on cards for two months after that.
When local authorities first confronted Mariscal, she admitted to cashing benefits in the name of the 91-year-old but claimed she was pressured to do so by a former paramour who was also a gang member.
Investigators said her story didn’t check out, and they quickly found other identities Mariscal had pilfered.
Food stamps have come under scrutiny in recent months after the Trump administration attempted to halt payments during last fall’s government shutdown.
The money was restored first under court orders, and later as the shutdown ended.
But the Trump administration has continued its efforts.
Earlier this month, it attempted to block tens of millions of dollars in food stamp benefit payments to Minnesota, citing ongoing fraud concerns.
A federal judge last week ordered the money to keep flowing.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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