State employees under investigation for illegally obtaining federal assistance in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene, listed dead relatives as dependents to appear to qualify for the hand-outs.
Thousands lined up outside Department of Social Services offices in September to apply the federal government's disaster relief program.
The Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or D-SNAP, was designed to provide debit cards to purchase food for people of certain income levels who suffered storm-related losses.
So many people showed up to apply for the assistance, that DSS reassigned several employees to help process the claims. Among those who were pulled from their regular duties were investigators for DSS, who immediately recognized names of state employees on applications, and raised red flags.
Because the Department of Social Services administered the program, federal regulations required an audit be completed for applications from DSS employees who sought aide for themselves. While many were eligible to collect the federal funds, the DSS internal audit turned up a number of cases of fraud both from DSS employees and other state employees.
Sources familiar with the investigation tell NBC Connecticut that some of the more egregious examples of fraud by state employees include applicants listing dead relatives as members of their household at the time of the storm. Families with more dependents were eligible for assistance.
Other examples include applicants misrepresenting their income or lying about assets such as cash on hand or money in savings and checking accounts.
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In a rare Sunday afternoon news conference Governor Dannel Malloy announced that the DSS internal audit was expanded to include all state employees and other applicants as well.
Approximately 800 state employees applied for the D-SNAP funds. A source close to the investigation refused to say how many state employees were implicated but described the number as “many”. Those under investigation include employees both inside and outside the Department of Social Services.
State Senator Joe Markley, (R-Southington), called for state auditors to investigate the administration of the D-SNAP program after lines stretched around DSS offices in New Haven, Hartford, Manchester and other locations. “We need to run our systems tightly enough that we don’t create temptations for people,” Markley said.
Markley sent a letter on Sept. 30 to state auditors Robert Ward and John Geragosian asking them to look into the program’s administration. Ward and Geragosian are investigating, but it appears that red flags of apparent fraud were raised by the Department of Social Service’s internal audit mandated by the federal government outside of the independent review by Ward and Geragosian.
“When I saw those scenes of hundreds of people lined up there comes a point where you say they’re giving money away, get in line. People go along with things. That may have happened to these state employees,” Markley said.
Senator Markley said he was surprised by the allegations of fraud perpetrated by state employees and that it, “never even crossed my mind.”
State and federal prosecutors have now joined the investigation to determine which federal or state laws were broken by state employees or others by filing fraudulent applications.
