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Illinois caseworker accused of selling Link cards, providing food stamp benefits to ineligble recipients

Over the course of seven years, Illinois State Police say a state employee distributed more than $300,000 in unauthorized food stamp benefits to people who were...

Over the course of seven years, Illinois State Police say a state employee distributed more than $300,000 in unauthorized food stamp benefits to people who were ineligible to receive them.

Former employee of the Illinois Department of Human Services, Debra Moore, was taken into custody for felony theft and official misconduct, police announced Thursday, July 16, 2015.

According to Chicago Tribune, Moore, who worked at the Woodlawn Family Community Resource Center in Chicago from June 1, 2002 to July 15, 2015, was arrested on Wednesday.

The arrest came after a complaint about an employee selling Link cards launched an investigation. Further, the complaint alleged that Moore sold Link cards for cash and added credits to accounts of people she knew, according to Chicago Tribune.   Investigators found that more than a dozen people had received the card benefits.

Link cards, according to the Department of Human Services’ website, are debit cards that people can use to buy food. They are part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Moore reportedly admitted to selling Link cards for cash, Chicago Tribune reported. She said she sold the cards for as much as $1,800 per card and would take cash payments at a gas station across the street from her office.  Moore said she would add unauthorized cash benefits to the cards by adding more dependents, which would up the account’s funds.

A statement from the Illinois State Police said that Moore did this between March 1, 2006 and July 14, 2013 “on at least three occasions.”

Moore was taken to the Chicago Police Department, appeared in Cook County Court Thursday and was held on $50,000 bond.

 

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