Reporting suspected public assistance fraud
Montgomery County residents can make confidential reports of suspected fraud by calling (937) 225-6035.
The Montgomery County Investigation and Recovery Unit recovered more than $870,000 in fraudulent public assistance funds in 2014, the county’s best haul since 2000. And the agency is on pace to recoup more than $1 million this year, thanks to a fraud hotline and other efforts, officials said.
“The community calls in,” Investigation and Recovery Manager Donyce Montgomery said. “You know it’s your taxpayer dollars that’s paying for this when somebody’s getting (assistance) and they shouldn’t be getting that. People happily call us.”
Only Loraine County in northeast Ohio collected more money last year from fraudulent benefits than Montgomery County. In 2014, there were 1,425 fraud reports to the county’s hotline, which led to the recovery of $870,602.71 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds. The county collected $640,987.21 in 2013.
Montgomery credits the promotion of May as fraud awareness month — the slogan is “Fraud Costs All Of Us” — plus the hotline and increased investigatory field visits for 2014’s success and the more than $600,000 in SNAP fraud recovered through April 2015.
“We are the stewards over the government’s money and we don’t want to issue benefits to people who shouldn’t be receiving them,” she said. “There are many people who have had their income tax (returns) intercepted because they owe food stamp over-payment.”
The county gets to keep a percentage of intentional program and inadvertent household error claims. In 2014, that number increased from $157,825.71 in 2013 to $192,661.63 in 2014.
The field visits are usually separate from criminal investigations of illegal benefit schemes. The investigation and recovery unit recoups money through income tax returns, payment arrangements and a reduction of ongoing SNAP benefits.
Montgomery County Dept. of Job & Family Services Communication Coordinator Kevin Lavoie said some program members either under-report their income, over-report their rent or fail to notify the agency when an absent parent moves back in to a residence. Major changes to circumstances are supposed to be reported within 10 days, Lavoie said.
Montgomery said her department has cooperated with law enforcement on investigations of small grocery stores that don’t properly administer the program. Recent federal prosecutions have addressed SNAP benefit fraud.
“Sometimes people are getting benefits they’re not supposed to because they just flat out don’t tell us the truth,” Montgomery said, adding that penalties for fraud can range from a year to a lifetime of ineligibility, but that “we absolutely want everybody that’s eligible for SNAP benefits to get them.”
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