LEO director: EBT review ‘very sloppy’

LYNN – Better prevention at the front end of the state’s complicated cash and food assistance program might have prevented millions of dollars in fraud, state Attorney General Martha Coakley and a local human service provider said Friday.Coakley said her initial review of state Auditor Suzanne Bump’s report on the Department of Transitional Assistance showed her “no evidence” state workers were involved in what Bump termed “millions of dollars in questionable benefits.”But Coakley said her office has prosecuted assistance fraud cases in past years and is prepared to do so again.”At this stage, it seems to be a lot of individuals who could game the system. Clearly, there has got to be better prevention at the front end,” Coakley said.Transitional Assistance helps low-income Massachusetts residents meet basic needs by providing them with cash and food with aid provided through Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards. Bump’s report indicates 874,000 people received $1.3 billion in taxpayer-subsidized nutritional assistance last year.Audits conducted between 2010 and 2012 discovered that benefits were paid to 1,200 dead people or that benefit recipients were using a dead person’s identification.”We estimate that these 1,164 recipients received approximately $2.39 million in questionable public assistance benefits during this period,” the audit report said.Bump’s investigators also tracked down $486,000 in benefits payments transacted two weeks to a year after the person qualified to receive the benefits died.State Health and Human Services Secretary John Polanowicz challenged Bump’s findings in a letter provided by Transitional Assistance spokesman Matthew Kitsos on Friday.”Nearly half of those individuals cited by the auditor as deceased were in fact not deceased, highlighting the need for a full review of these findings,” Polanowicz wrote.Lynn Economic Opportunity Director John Mogielnicki sits on a committee advising transitional assistance, and he wants to know how the questionable benefit payments occurred.”I do not know what goes on at DTA, but at the next meeting, I’ll certainly ask,” he said.Mogielnicki runs a Broad Street agency that, he said, aided 11,000 people last year in obtaining financial help paying heating bills, rent and other expenses. He said anyone applying for LEO benefits must provide verification information and speak to an intake specialist.He said his agency’s policy of requiring two employees to review all benefits applications apparently was not duplicated by transitional assistance.”It appears they weren’t doing income verification correctly. It was very sloppy,” he said.Mogielnicki said the LEO is “constantly monitored and evaluated” by public agencies to ensure it is verifying benefits application information and approving applications correctly. He stands ready to make recommendations to Transitional Assistance aimed at tightening its review and approval system.Nine Lynn residents charged with electronic benefit transfer fraud are scheduled to go on trial in September in Superior Court. Several also face drug charges stemming from police raids on two downtown stores in December 2011. Prosecutors said two of the nine defendants allowed benefits recipients to withdraw cash using benefits cards and buy cocaine from the defendants. The nine and a Malden man have pleaded innocent to the charges.Transitional assistance officials this week outlined plans for tightening the reins on the benefits system, including taking steps to block benefits card usage at prohibited establishments “and increas(ing) monitoring of card usage.”State legislators are already talking about reforming the benefits payment system, but state Rep. Lori Ehrlich is not sure what directions reforms should take.”I favor the most effective way to ensure integrity in the system,” Ehrlich said. “Any example of waste and abuse needs to be taken seriously to make sure people who need help get it.”Thor Jourgensen can be reached at tjourgens