{"id":272,"date":"2020-06-12T13:56:01","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T13:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/monderlaw\/?page_id=272"},"modified":"2021-02-01T13:07:01","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T13:07:01","slug":"san-diego-welfare-fraud-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.monderlaw.com\/fraud\/welfare-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego Welfare Fraud Lawyer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/d_7PrOAve2A\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Welfare Fraud in San Diego<\/h2>\n<p>Welfare fraud is when people make false statements or fail to report significant information when applying for welfare programs, so that they can receive benefits they are not actually entitled to. Welfare is the system established by the government to help people who cannot, on their own, maintain a minimum standard of well-being. Eligibility can be based on: age, financial status, disability, or other situation. Welfare also includes food stamps, affordable housing, and family aid. It is a controversial system with active supporters and dissenters.<\/p>\n<p>Some believe it to be a government\u2019s duty to take care of its most downtrodden, while others believe this is too much of the government\u2019s investment into the personal lives of its residents. This is also a hot button issue because welfare funding comes from collected taxes, and there is great debate over how the government should be allocating the revenues it receives from taxes.\u00a0 Each state is responsible for administering the welfare funds established by the federal government, and many have state-established welfare programs in addition to federal programs.\u00a0California welfare programs include CalWORKS, CalFresh, and Medi-Cal.<\/p>\n<h2>Understanding\u00a0Welfare and Institution Code Section\u00a010980<\/h2>\n<p>Welfare and Institution Code \u00a710980 prohibits fraudulently receiving welfare benefits. There are three elements to the crime\/legal definition of welfare fraud:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Deliberately misstating information or failing to provide relevant information in order to obtain, retain or increase undeserved welfare benefits;<\/li>\n<li>Applying for benefits under more than one name or by filing multiple applications to obtain multiple benefits; and\/or<\/li>\n<li>Using, transferring, acquiring, purchasing, selling, possessing, altering or counterfeiting authorization to receive food stamps or actual food stamps.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Common Welfare Fraud in San Diego &amp; California Courts<\/h2>\n<p>There are two main examples that California courts readily see, in terms of welfare fraud; they are categorized as: receipt fraud and internal fraud.<\/p>\n<p>Receipt fraud is arguably the most common. This type of fraud involves those who receive or attempt to receive welfare they are not actually entitled to. There are a number of ways people commit receipt fraud, the most typical being:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Claiming single parent status while not actually a single parent.<\/li>\n<li>Failing to report additional income or other benefits.<\/li>\n<li>Submitting a claim for a child who does not live in the home.<\/li>\n<li>Submitting a claim for fictitious or ineligible children.<\/li>\n<li>Collecting benefits from another state in addition to those collected in California.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>One of the more sensationalized, actual cases involved a situation where A husband and wife applied for cash-aid based on their alleged low income. \u00a0The couple failed to report that the wife owned a liquor store and recycling business. \u00a0She also drove a $76,000 luxury car, shopped at high-end department stores and had almost $150,000 hidden in her bedroom dresser. For more situations, visit The California Department of Social Services &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dss.cahwnet.gov\/fraud\/PG270.htm\">Welfare Fraud Stories<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Penalties for\u00a0Welfare Fraud<\/h2>\n<p>The punishment for welfare fraud depends on which section of the Welfare and Institutions Code you are allegedly violating. Welfare fraud is known as a wobbler offense, in that in can be charged as a felony or a misdemeanor, depending on the nature of the offense (specifically, the defendant\u2019s criminal history and the facts of the current charge).\u00a0 Here is a breakdown of the various charges and their punishments:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Making a False\/Misleading Statement in an Effort to Obtain Benefit\n<ul>\n<li>The crime is charged as a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a maximum $500 fine.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Filing Fraudulent Applications\n<ul>\n<li>You are facing a wobbler if\u00a0you are convicted of filing a fraudulent application because: you have filed multiple applications for the same person, or you have applied for aid for a fictitious person, or you have applied for benefits using a false identity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Food Stamps Welfare Fraud\n<ul>\n<li>If you are convicted of engaging in any activity with unauthorized blank authorizations to participate in the food stamp program, you face a felony.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Enhancement to Welfare Fraud<\/h2>\n<p>You will face additional penalties if the welfare fraud offense you are charged for involves electronically transferred benefits. In fact, on top of the sentence for welfare fraud, you face an additional and consecutive:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>One year of incarceration if the transfer of benefits exceeds $50,000.<\/li>\n<li>Two years if the transfer exceeds $150,000.<\/li>\n<li>Three years if the transfer exceeds $1,000,000.<\/li>\n<li>Four years if the transfer exceeds $2,500,000.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Also, you may face additional penalties if you have a professional discipline that provides a state license, you could lose that license. If you are an immigrant, you may be subject to removal proceedings.<\/p>\n<h2>How do you prove you are not guilty of a welfare fraud?<\/h2>\n<p>Luckily, you have the option to contact a skilled criminal defense attorney who knows which, of the several, available defenses will be most beneficial to your case. The most common legal defenses are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lacked Intent to Defraud<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">For example, if you believed you submitted a legitimate claim for benefits (and any incorrect statements or omissions were inadvertent), didn&#8217;t realize that you needed to report lottery winnings, gifts, or an inheritance to the department, or simply forgot to update your status once one of your children became ineligible for benefits.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Insufficient Evidence<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">For example, if your employer reported you because you had numerous duplicate files, documents were often missing from your case files, and you had suspicious contact with some of the applicants. And even if the evidence strongly suggests that you were embezzling funds, without actual proof, you should be exonerated of the offense. \u00a0Unless the prosecutor can prove that you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt (that is, to a moral certainty), you are legally entitled to be acquitted.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0Mistaken Identity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">For example,\u00a0 even if there are legitimate claims of welfare fraud, it doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean that you are the guilty party. \u00a0You could be accused of internal welfare fraud. \u00a0Yet if the applicants are friends or family, they could be trying to take advantage of your position in the county. \u00a0Perhaps they submitted incorrect information on their applications and, because you are close, you simply assumed they were providing correct information and didn&#8217;t take steps to verify it as you should have.<\/p>\n<h2>Your Best Defense against Welfare Fraud Charges in San Diego<\/h2>\n<p>If you are charged with welfare fraud, seek the assistance of a skilled criminal defense attorney. What you need is a local criminal defense attorney who knows San Diego&#8217;s judicial system, such as Vik Monder. As an experienced local criminal defense attorney, Vik Monder knows how the system works and has the ability to represent you in a <a dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en-US\" href=\"https:\/\/www.monderlaw.com\/\/pratice-areas\/fraud\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" hreflang=\"en\">fraud case in San Diego<\/a>, be it a an <a dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en-US\" href=\"https:\/\/www.monderlaw.com\/\/pratice-areas\/fraud\/unemployment-insurance\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" hreflang=\"en\">unemployment insurance fraud case<\/a> or a welfare fraud case.<\/p>\n<p>While this may sound easy, but the reality is quite complicated. To make sure you get the best legal scenario possible, you should talk to a skilled criminal defense attorney. Call the Monder Law Group today for more information.<\/p>\n<h4>Contact San Diego Welfare Fraud\u00a0Criminal Defense Attorney Vik Monder for a FREE\u00a0consultation today at:\u00a0<a href=\"tel:619-405-0063\">619-405-0063<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welfare Fraud in San Diego Welfare fraud is when people make false statements or fail to report significant information when applying for welfare programs, so that they can receive benefits they are not actually entitled to. Welfare is the system established by the government to help people who cannot, on their own, maintain a minimum [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-272","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>San Diego Welfare Fraud Criminal Attorney | Monder Criminal Lawyer Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Welfare fraud is when people make false statements or fail to report significant information when applying for welfare programs, so that they can receive benefits they are not actually entitled to. 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