BY THE NUMBERS
From July 2014 to June 2015:
413 allegations of food stamp fraud to investigate
108 people arrested
93 people convicted
Source: Butler County Job and Family Services
Officials say they are prepared to devote more taxpayer money to bolster efforts ferreting out people who commit food stamp fraud in Butler County.
Butler County officials say they have saved taxpayers $17 million by detecting and often arresting fraudulent food stamp users since a partnership among Job and Family Services and the sheriff and prosecutor’s offices was born in 2012.
Job and Family Services pays the sheriff’s department $241,047 for three deputies and almost $20,000 to the prosecutor’s office to take violators to court. The department, which was hit hard with layoffs during the Great Recession, now hopes to add more staff to thwart food stamp fraud, according to Executive Director Ray Pater.
A year and a half ago, when commissioners approved paying for a third sheriff's deputy, the county had received 449 complaints about food stamp traffickers and others who break the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program rules, arrested 94 people and sentenced 90 offenders, saving $5.4 million.
Job and Family Services Director Jerome Kearns said from July 2014 to June 2015 the deputies were given 413 allegations to investigate, 108 people were arrested and 93 were convicted. Nationally, in 2012, $74.6 billion worth of food assistance was issued and $746 million of that was trafficked.
Now the savings stand at $17 million and Commissioner Don Dixon said that “huge money” warrants bringing on additional staff, they just aren’t sure how many yet.
“It’s hard to imagine we’re talking those type of numbers,” he said. “We’re prepared to continue the effort, even though it’s not money out of the general fund, it is our taxpayers’ money. Hopefully the state will take some interest and see what we’re doing and this could maybe be mandatory statewide because it’s huge money, you’re talking $17-plus million, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
Benjamin Johnson, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, said at least one other county has a JFS/law enforcement partnership but the counties all operate differently.
“The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services has no tolerance for fraud. Fraud costs all of us, and we support the work Butler County and our other county partners do every day to detect and deter SNAP fraud. Every county investigates fraud differently, and it is important that all counties use the tools they have available to prevent fraud, waste and abuse,” he said.
“ODJFS partners with the Ohio Investigative Unit to investigate SNAP fraud, and we encourage counties to coordinate with local law enforcement. Mandating a partnership like Butler County’s would require a state law,” Johnson said.
Butler County Sheriff’s Lt. Todd Langmeyer, who heads up the food stamp fraud team for the sheriff, said they get a lot of tips from the public about food stamp scofflaws.
“We get a lot of tips from the community because they know that the people that are abusing the program are spending their tax dollars,” he said. “There’s a lot of people on the street that abuse the program that think of it as free government money, well there is no such thing as free money, it comes from somewhere, it comes from people who are working. People get frustrated when they see the abuse taking place.”
Kearns said there are all kinds of ways people can try to skirt the system, and he doesn’t necessarily want to give people ideas. But they knew when they beefed up the enforcement it was going to have a big return on investment.
“That’s just an illustration of when you get serious about combating fraud what an impact you can have,” he said. “We issue over $5 million a month and we knew as we increased our efforts it was going to make a big return.”
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