EYEWITNESS NEWS (WBRE/WYOU) — The Office of State Inspector General stated in the month of September 50 people have been charged with public assistance fraud.
According to the Office of State Inspector General (OSIG), 50 people have been charged with a felony in the month of September for public assistance fraud.
OSIG says the restitution owned to the Commonwealth totals $584,874 and the defendants will be temporarily disqualified from receiving public benefits within the programs they allegedly defrauded.
Allegedly those who have been charged misrepresented their household circumstances and fraudulently received taxpayer-funded public benefits they were not entitled to, OSIG notes.
The maximum penalty for this offense is seven years in prison with a $15,000 fine and will also face a mandatory disqualification period from the benefits program in which they defrauded
