The county prosecutor and the Ohio Attorney General have initiated a joint criminal investigation into the false spend-down entries made by one or more people who worked for the Warren County Job and Family Services in 2009 and 2010. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services’ spend-down program allows eligible people with income higher than Medicaid guidelines to deduct medical expenses from their income in order to qualify.
“In September, the prosecutor’s office was notified of the state auditor’s findings concerning unaccounted funds (in 2010),” said Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell in a statement issued just before noon on Tuesday.
“The prosecutor’s office is further committed to utilizing all legal means to recover the unaccounted for funds from the responsible person or persons.”
The audit identifies five employees who’s county IDs were associated with the false entries, however, the Middletown Journal is not publishing their names since they are currently not charged.
According to the audit, in December 2010 spend-down receipts received by Warren County Job and Family Services were not posted to all case files.
The spend-down receipts need original and duplicate receipts, and the majority of the spend-down entries made without an official receipt — but had a duplicate receipt — were made by the same employee. That employee, according to Gully, was fired in April — prior to the investigation — for “incompetency.”
Of the 195 duplicate receipts received, 55 did not have an official receipt and accounted for $16,146 — and 46 of those receipts were entered by the fired employee.
Another 123 entries by the fired employee had no support for the spend-down entries being made, which totaled $34,659.
The remainder of the money — $24,856 — was discovered after a review of 100 transactions in 2009 by this same employee that also had no support for the spend-down entry being made.
Warren County Administrator Dave Gully and Warren County Job and Family Services Director Doris Bishop declined to comment since it is an ongoing criminal investigation. Fornshell could not be reached for further comment on Tuesday.
This is the second county Job and Family Services department this month with allegations of theft. Last week, a grand jury indicted three former Hamilton County Job and Family Services workers for theft in office. They are accused of handing out food stamps and Medicaid benefits illegally.
The alleged thefts in Hamilton County had been going on for several years.
Ohio Auditor Dave Yost said Warren County Job and Family Services receives its money from state and federal funds, and since the money was not paid to the county it was not deducted from the county’s funding. That resulted in the county being over-reimbursed.
“Honest government begins with accounting for each public dollar, and the citizens of Warren County deserve nothing less,” said Yost.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2175 or michael.pitman@coxinc.com. Follow at
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