OKDHS Office of Inspector General

Identification Theft PARIS Conference March 2016

First Contact

• PARIS MATCH 2012- Female Ringleader “CRY” • Oklahoma/ Mississippi/Texas • Overlapping SNAP benefits • All OK benefits spent in TX and MS • Overpayment claim established • Administrative Disqualification Hearing held • Recipient disqualified for 24 months due to prior fraud

disqualification in MS

The Scheme • Started in January 2013 • False identification cards used to open SNAP only cases

Salvation Army Catholic Charities

• ID cards contained photo, DOB and SSN • In person visits to various county offices to open cases • One to Six persons applying at same time • Same photos on different ID’s

Modus Operandi

Why were these answers on the applications? • Homeless Single person household- either staying with a

friend or just a mailing address • Majority of address info was legitimate • Over 50 years of age • No income • Less than $100 in their pocket • Have lived in Oklahoma for over 6 months • Charitable organizations have been meeting their needs

The Payoff

• 124 SNAP cases opened in OK by this ring in 20 month period • Most ran at least 6 months • Several renewed on line after 6 months • $189 to $194 @ month • Male Ringleader “RV”- Oklahoma loss $83,000 • Female Ringleader “CRY”– Oklahoma loss $62,000 • Rest of the cases- Oklahoma loss $133,000

The Break

• 10-3-2014 4:54 pm Highway 80 Jackson, Mississippi • Officer Kendrick of Jackson Police stopped a Green Explorer

for a seat belt violation • The lone occupant happened to be CRY and she had two

outstanding warrants for her arrest. CRY’s OK SNAP card among items found along with her photo on over 20 false ID cards.

• The Explorer was impounded and inventoried incident to arrest. Explorer belonged to “RV”, whose OK SNAP card was among items found along with his photo on over 20 false ID cards.

The Mother Lode

• Identification cards, driver licenses and EBT SNAP Cards and

…..LEDGER! • 53 EBT SNAP cards and corresponding fake ID’s from

Oklahoma cases • 35 EBT SNAP cards and corresponding fake ID’s from Texas

cases • 3 EBT SNAP cards from Mississippi • EBT SNAP cards or ID’s from Nevada (8) and Indiana (3) • Various stolen SSN cards, debit cards and other ID’s

Data analysis and Investigation

• Oklahoma now knows about 53 cases

• Benefit Utilization Mapping Program and ledger used to identify another possible 71 OK fraudulent cases

• Analysis of case records revealed 9 different photos used for

false ID’s in the 124 fraudulent cases. 2 photos are ID theft victims

• 93% SNAP spent in MS, 4% TX, 3% NV, OK and IN • M. O. already discussed

Bring in the Feds

• USDA OIG opened joint investigation because of Interstate

Nature and Dollar amount loss • Further investigation into cases in TX, NV, IN and MS • Multiple Count Indictments in U.S. Western District Oklahoma

for Theft of Government Property, False Statements, Benefits Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft:

• 7-8-2015 CRY CR-15-138HE

• 10-7-2015 RV CR-15-203R

Justice

CRY: • Time to do 30 months • Probation after prison 3 years • Restitution ordered $330,000 (jointly) RV: • Sentencing scheduled for April 2016

Oklahoma Contact Information

• Fraud Referral Hotline – 1-800-784-5887 • Oklahoma City office- 405-522-5880 fax 405-522-4642 Michael Adams, Senior Agent- michael.adams@okdhs.org Keck Upchurch, Supervisor- keck.upchurch@okdhs.org George Tipton, Chief Agent- george.tipton@okdhs.org USDA Special Agent Daniel Mobley- daniel.mobley@oig.usda.gov