Resident listed in county fraud findings

Bill San Antonio

Nassau Executive Edward Mangano last Wednesday announced that the county’s Department of Social Services’ Office of Investigations recently discovered 13 schemes seeking to defraud hundreds of thousands of dollars from taxpayers, one of which from a Manhasset resident, according to a press release. 

The release said a 53-year-old Manhasset woman, whose name was not identified, lied about her income and concealed that she and her husband had been living off his $480,000 IRA account to illegally obtain $20,175 in Medicaid benefits.

“Those who steal money from the neediest of our citizens will be caught, prosecuted and have jail time sought for the crimes they commit,” Mangano said.

According to the release, 30 cases of fraud, waste and abuse totaling more than $888,000 have been referred by the county for prosecution this year. 

“People who attempt to defraud the system will get caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” said John Imhof, the Department of Social Services’ commissioner. “This conduct will not be tolerated in Nassau County.”

Since April 2011, the county Department of Social Services has identified more than $3.7 million in taxpayer savings and referred 68 cases resulting in arrests, the release said.

“Public assistance programs are designed to help our communities’ most vulnerable members, and those who defraud the system are stealing from every taxpayer,” Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice said. “I created a Public Assistance Fraud Unit to prosecute just these kinds of cases so that our social safety net is there to life those with true needs and to ensure those who abuse the system are caught and held accountable.”

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