A state agency might have jeopardized food-stamp fraud investigations by accidentally giving confidential information to a media outlet.
The Ohio Department of Public Safety turned over information about cases it thought had been closed though some are active, spokesman Joe Andrews said when contacted by The Dispatch.
“We may have given out some information that we probably shouldn’t have,” he said. “However, those records have not been released to the public, and no case has been compromised.”
http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html
The Scripps Howard News Service, which in recent months exposed nationwide problems with banned food-stamp vendors being allowed to once again accept food stamps in their stores, asked for information compiled by the Ohio Investigative Unit. The agency, a part of the Public-Safety Department, works in conjunction with the federal government on food-stamp crimes.
Public-safety officials released a spreadsheet of three years’ worth of cases — about 90 total — to the Washington, D.C.-based news agency, which has affiliated newspapers and TV stations across the country.
Andrews said it is believed that the number of active cases in the pool of 90 is not large. The reporter understands he received some information by mistake, Andrews said.
A number of food-stamp criminal cases involve trafficking — the buying and selling of food-stamp benefits for cash, cigarettes, alcohol and other items.
