Virginia Woman Charged With Welfare Fraud For Collecting Benefits While Husband Earne

Virginia Woman Charged With Welfare Fraud For Collecting Benefits While Husband Earned Millions

Helen Agbapuruonwu collected over $100,000 in benefits over six years while her husband was working at a D.C. law firm

VIDEO REPORT AT LINK

By Julie Carey

An Arlington woman was arrested this week and charged with four counts of welfare fraud for collecting over $100,000 in benefits – all while her husband was a high-earning attorney in D.C., police say.
Police say a six-month investigation into Helen Agbapuruonwu, 41, found that the mother of four had collected benefits like food stamps and Medicaid assistance for the past six years.

While Helen was collecting benefits, her husband, Fidelis Agbapuruonwu, was earning $1.5 million per year as a lawyer, according to court documents obtained by News4.

In 2001, Fidelis received the prestigious Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship which helped pay his way through law school.

Fidelis’ LinkedIn page claims he works for the D.C. firm of Mayer Brown, but today the firm said he no longer works there. Court officials believe Fidelis, a Nigerian immigrant, has “fled the country and is somewhere in Africa.”

The director of the pre-school the Agbapuruonwu’s children once attended said she is shocked by the allegations against family.

“I have to believe it’s not true,” she said.

Helen Agbapuruonwu’s defense lawyer declined to comment.

Police say they hope this case is a deterrent to anyone who thinks about trying to cheat the system.

“We hope it sends a message that if you are taking public assistance it’s truly intended for those in need, and we’re committed to ensuring those who need the most help receive it,” said Arlington County Police spokeswoman Ashley Savage.


Source: Virginia Woman Charged With Welfare Fraud For Collecting Benefits While Husband Earned Millions | NBC4 Washington http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/lo...#ixzz4bAVNYu5W
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Are these people investigated in any way before they receive these benefits?

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Originally Posted by nntrixie

Are these people investigated in any way before they receive these benefits?

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Absolutely. They are very carefully vetted to make sure they actually need the benefits. Withholding evidence that you do not need them is a serious crime. You can get into trouble for even small omissions.

For a lot of people who immigrate into this country, collecting benefits like this is a kind of privilege coming with a certain social status. The countries they come from are extremely corrupt and you can't just be anyone and collect benefits like this. It requires connections and if you have them, whether you need them or not is not really an issue.

Mexico, for example, is extremely corrupt and it is not hard to imagine that this is a serious obstacle for any kind of well run public assistance program. It would be easy to imagine such a public welfare system being run by cartel honchos. Think of all the corruption existing in the Mexican police and military.

In Massachusetts they are not vetted at all, they just walk in there tell their lies and get all the benefits, a lot of them are working and receiving benefits and this state does nothing about it. They teach each other how to scam the system and get the most out of it. That is why I hope they cut the Federal funding for this Sanctuary State so they will not be able to afford to give all these illegal aliens welfare and other benefits that we taxpayers pay for.

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Originally Posted by nntrixie

Are these people investigated in any way before they receive these benefits?

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apparently not!

I'm sorry, 'carefully vetted'??

Does that mean they are helped to fill out the application to make sure they 'qualify'?

I don't know how we continue to point out how corrupt Mexico is, with all the revelations about our government. We are rotten to the core.

The fact the welfare recipients in this country do not do their own palm greasing, doesn't mean it doesn't get done. A lot of politicians and corporate miscreants like welfare. Think agriculture, think housing, think healthcare, etc. Think Wal Mart, for goodness sakes.

I believe the reason these illegals suddenly have hyphenated last names is so they can operate their scams, drawing welfare under other names.