5 accused of bilking state for benefits

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) - Five arrest warrants issued in Williamson County charge women with filing false information to receive state benefits.

In all five cases, the women are accused of deceptively filling out applications to be eligible for Health and Human Service benefits such as Medicaid and food stamps

In some of the cases, according to the warrants, new jobs were not reported as the suspects continued to receive state assistance, in another case the husband, who was also contributing to the household income, was omitted.

In two of the five warrants, the women are accused of receiving payments of more than $10,000 from state assistance programs that they were not eligible to get.

Stephanie Goodman, spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, said that this is one of the most common problems that the agency faces.

Their caseworkers constantly check state databases like the workforce commission and vehicle registry to see if there is information omitted from the eligibility applications.

In large cases of deception the HHSC will file criminal charges, in other cases people are banned from future state programs.

The fraud costs the state millions of dollars a year.