An ongoing investigation is currently underway following the discovery of over $81,000 in authorized charges made on numerous Lone Star cards. Recently, ABC13 obtained a warrant that identified a state employee as one of the suspects involved in this case.
The employee involved in the alleged conspiracy has not been charged with a crime at this point, so Eyewitness News will not be disclosing her name or the name of her alleged co-conspirator.
In January, an anonymous call to the state’s SNAP fraud hotline prompted the Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s Office of Inspector General to initiate an investigation.
A concerned individual came forward with information alleging that an employee from the Health and Human Services department was engaging in the unlawful activity of stealing SNAP card information. Shockingly, it was further revealed that this stolen data was being sold on popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
The employee, located at the Health and Human Services office in Acres Homes on West Little York, was discovered to have tampered with the PINs on 211 Lone Star cards. As a result, the rightful owners were unable to use their cards.
Another woman, who was previously employed at the same office but was terminated in 2018 for undisclosed reasons, collaborated with the first woman and altered a total of 157 PINs.
The women are accused of making unauthorized charges on the cards and selling them to third parties.
In July, the first woman admitted her involvement in the scheme, according to investigators. She reportedly informed them that the second woman paid her 50 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits she stole.
She claimed that she did it to pay for her late son’s funeral, according to investigators.
According to a search warrant obtained for the woman’s phone, it appears that the scheme may have been in operation as early as June 2023. However, when questioned by investigators, she claimed that it did not start until November 2023.
Upon contacting both women mentioned in the search warrant for their input, the second woman expressed her lack of awareness regarding the ongoing investigation.
