Wednesday, June 23, 1999
Clermont welfare plan a model
Recovering money focus of program
BY TOM O'NEILL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BATAVIA — Clermont County's innovative program to reduce welfare fraud and its impact on the court system received an award from the National Association of Counties, the Department of Human Services announced Tuesday.
The award as a “model county program for 1999” will be presented to Clermont officials at the national association's annual conference in St. Louis, July 17-21.
The program emphasizes restitution to state and federal agencies through “deferred prosecution” of welfare fraud, forgery, misuse of a credit card, tampering with records, theft, medical fraud, illegal use of food stamps and other falsifications. It is administered by the county's Department of Human Services (DHS).
“We put the emphasis on repayment to where the money belongs,” said Tom Albers, the county's director of human services.
The goal is to delay involve ment of the prosecutor's office, thereby giving suspects an opportunity to avoid a misdemeanor or felony conviction that would make job placement — and therefore restitution — even more difficult.
The public-assistance fraud caseload increased significantly in the early 1990s, with the prosecutor's office handling about 100, most first-time offenders. From 1994 to 1995, the number of complaints to DHS rose from about 950 to 1,440.
Most of the cases handled by the prosecutor's office land ed at the probation department, often for up to five years. By then, welfare fraud cases represented about one-quarter of the probation department's caseload.
The probation department also served as a collection agency, getting restitution from welfare cheats and forwarding the money to state and federal agencies.
“It took time, obviously, away from other things,” said Joe Ellison, chief probation officer for Clermont County Municipal Court.
The court of common pleas typically handles felony welfare-fraud cases but the municipal division still handles unresolved DHS cases.
Those who continue to abuse the system will still find themselves facing court charges, but the diversion of first-time and non-flagrant offenders has eased that burden on the probation department.
“We see less and less,” Mr. Ellison said.
The program also allows prosecutors to focus on non-welfare fraud, increases restitution collections, and saves taxpayers' money.
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