The Mississippi Department of Human Services announced Thursday a pair of indictments related to residents allegedly defrauding the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
SNAP, a food assistance program, provided monthly benefits to low-income individuals and families and helps eligible households afford groceries. However, two individuals in Jefferson Davis County and Lauderdale County recently tried to defraud it, according to the MDHS.
The state agency announced Victoria Reese, of Jefferson Davis County, and Shawnetta D. Hill, of Lauderdale County, each received over thousands of dollars in benefits by not reporting household income and composition accurately to MDHS. Reese is said to have received $25,698 in benefits while Hill is said to have received $22,184. The cases are separate.
District attorneys in both counties secured indictments following Reese and Hill being taken into custody last month. Both cases were investigated by the Investigators Division of MDHS.
“This is an example of the continued collaboration between our investigations team, county offices, district attorneys, and local law enforcement,” stated MDHS Inspector General Sandra Griffith.
The MDHS Office of the Inspector General was created in 2018 and charged with detecting, deterring, and preventing fraud, waste, and abuse. According to the agency, it’s been responsible for millions of dollars collected from overpayments.
“This investigation demonstrates the controls we have in place to identify, investigate, and eliminate fraud in our programs,” MDHS executive director Bob Anderson said. “Plainly, those controls are working.”
While SNAP has been subject to uncertainty amid the recently-ended, 43-day government shutdown, both cases of alleged fraud happened before the program was temporarily put on pause.
