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The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services doesn’t do enough to monitor fraud and abuse of the state’s food stamp program, Ohio Auditor Dave Yost said Tuesday.
Yost launched a review last year after the Dayton Daily News reported that the state replaced 51,000 lost or stolen food stamp cards in the Miami Valley. High numbers of reported lost cards could indicate fraud; some people report the cards lost or stolen after selling them.
State auditors found that counties do not do enough to follow up on people who are repeatedly reissued new food stamp debit cards.
The state reissued 10 or more food stamp cards to more than 17,000 Ohioans since 2006; in Montgomery County, one person had been reissued a new card 47 times since March 2006.
Someone losing their card once or twice is understandable, Yost said. “But when you start seeing people lose a card 10 times, 15 times, 20 times or more over a five year period ... It just doesn’t pass the smell test. It looks like fraud.”
The state and counties receive information each month about people who have received new cards 10 times or more, but there is no standardized practice to evaluate how counties follow up, state auditors found. In all, ODJFS reissued 340,000 new food stamp cards in 2011.
“We know some proportion of those are fraudulent, and the kids of those people are paying the price,” Yost said.
Yost recommended the state require more through data reporting, particularly on individual stores that submit bills. Officials could use that information to identify suspicious transactions, Yost said.
“Get a computer, an accountant and a cop together in a room, and you can figure out who you need to go after,” Yost said.
Food stamp cards come preloaded with a certain amount of money on them.
A typical scam is for someone to sell a card for cash to an unscrupulous store owner for half the amount loaded onto it. The store owner can then process the card as though the full value was used to purchase items in their store, and they are reimbursed the full amount by the state.
Yost recommended ODJFS institute better monitoring policies, and work with legislators to pass tougher laws to punish those found defrauding the program.
In 2011, Ohio distributed nearly $3 billion in food assistance to more than 850,000 families. As of December, 87,000 households received food assistance in Montgomery County.
Montgomery County JFS spokeswoman Ann Stevens said her agency investigates fraud to the extent that it can, but is strapped for resources. There are safeguards in place, but people circumvent them, she said.
“I know there are bad apples in every system. But the majority of people on food assistance are working poor” who really need the help, she said.
ODFJS spokesman Ben Johnson said in an email his office is considering Yost’s recommendations.
“We take the responsibility of running Ohio’s food assistance program very seriously,” Johnson said.
“Ohio has a well-run program, and we are always looking for ways to make it better. We look forward to working with the Auditor and continuing to improve this important program,” Johnson said.
ODJFS issued a media release Jan. 10, the same day Yost sent the office a letter detailing the findings of his review.
In that release, ODJFS Director Michael B. Colbert defended his office’s administration of the food stamp program, saying Ohio’s reissuance rate per household was 13th lowest in the country.
“We are extremely proud of this record, and of our performance in administering this program,” Colbert said.
“Our Food Assistance staff do a tremendous job.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2494 or andrew.tobias@coxinc.com
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