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Ex-workers investigated
$20,000 may have been bilked from Jeffco aid program
By Charley Able, Rocky Mountain News
July 12, 2003
GOLDEN - A number of former Jefferson County Human Services employees are under investigation for allegedly falsifying welfare applications and reaping more than $20,000 for themselves, friends or family.
Golden Police Sgt. Dave Farley, who is spearheading the investigation, said Friday at least 33 cases of suspected fraud have been uncovered.
"There have been some crimes committed," Farley said.
Although Farley would not discuss possible charges, he said the crimes would be felonies.
The investigation involves money paid under the Low Income Energy Assistance Program, which is funded by the federal government and private contributions.
The program, which operates from November through April each year, is designed primarily to help recipients pay heating bills, but also assists low-income families with emergency aid for such things as furnace repairs.
The investigation is focused on a half-dozen or fewer temporary employees involved in administering the program.
Farley said the investigation has uncovered a number of likely methods that money might have been diverted.
"There is a possibility they gave it to family, they gave it to friends, they gave it to people who should not have qualified," Farley said.
In most cases, the program money is sent directly to Xcel Energy.
But in a few instances, in which landlords receive utility bills for rental properties and pass the charge along to tenants, the program recipients receive the funds directly.
In Jefferson County, just more than $1 million was paid to recipients for the 2002-2003 program. An average of $252 was paid to each of the 3,955 households that qualified.
The suspected scheme was detected after the county received a tip in late April.
The three welfare fraud investigators on the county payroll found enough evidence to alert the state, which transferred Jefferson County's administration of the program to another county.
Jefferson County officials then closed out their low income energy assistance files, dismissed the four remaining temporary employees in the program and turned the investigation over to Golden police investigators, said Jennifer Watson, spokeswoman for the county agency.
"Our internal welfare fraud investigators are continuing to assist Golden with the investigation," Watson said. "What we have tried to do is cast as wide a net as possible in looking at all of our LEAP cases so we can get a full idea of what we may or may not be dealing with."
Some of the former county workers under suspicion may also have submitted energy assistance applications for unwitting recipients, falsifying their addresses to divert the funds to themselves or others, Farley said.
In some cases, false information about household income was submitted to ensure the application would be approved, Farley said.
Farley said the loss to the program is more than $20,000 and investigators are delving into several years of LEAP records.
Farley said some of those suspected in the investigation have been cooperative, but it could be three to four weeks before he completes the investigation and turns his findings over to the Jefferson County District Attorney.
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