A Pennsylvania woman received welfare payments for three imaginary kids. When it was all said and done, she made more in welfare over the course of multiple years than most Americans make annually.
Sabrina Strothers collected $130,000 for three children that never existed. How does this sort of thing happen? Can anyone just claim they have children and get money?
Thankfully, 23-year-old Strothers has been caught and is now sitting in jail.
According to reports, Strothers said she gave birth to three kids (triplets) when she was 15 years old. Would that not have been a little suspicious that a 15-year-old gave birth to triplets?
Strothers reported the birth of the three children to the country assistance office and continued to list them on applications for benefits for eight years. However, the children did not exist.
Shockingly, Strothers got away with it for nearly a decade and was only busted when her own cousin reported her to Pittsburgh officials. Pennsylvania’s Office of the Inspector General has a welfare fraud tip line and a link for reporting fraud on its website.
When investigators followed up on the cousin’s tip, they discovered that the Social Security numbers for Strothers’ children actually belonged to people born in 1887, 1945, and 1960.
The “kids” were named Thomas, Tomalyia, and Tyreik Wilson, and they all had social security numbers on file. The triplets made her eligible for welfare support and soon she began collecting checks each month to support her “family.”
The fraud was described in its entirety as $36,269 in food stamps, $90,000 in medical care, and $2,000 from a fund called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Imagine how many needy, struggling families that tax-payer money could have gone to help over the years!
After telling investigators that the children lived in Georgia with their father, but not being able to give an address, she finally admitted she had been lying the whole time.
“If found guilty of committing welfare fraud, a defendant must make full restitution of the overpaid benefits, can receive a sentence that can include community service, probation or incarceration, pay costs and fines to the court, and be disqualified for a period of time from public assistance benefits,” described a statement from the Inspector General’s office.
Strothers is now facing one charge of theft by deception, and two counts of both forgeries and making false statements during a welfare investigation.
Watch the video below for more details: