Piblic Assistance Fraud

[ria26]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

I received a letter in the mail stating that there was a criminal investigation on me regarding public assistant fraud. It stated that i needed to contact the investigator that was on the letter immediately. I contacted her twice before speaking with her and once we spoke she said she needed to come out to my residence and have an interview with me.She said they were investigating my old employment from last year where i am no longer employed. She then stated that she did not want to talk about it on the phone and that i could ask her 50 questions or more when she came out.

I agreed to a day and time and we hung up. I called her back and rescheduled the appoint and she made a comment under her breath saying "I hope the agent doesn't come out to you first". I don't know what that meant. I didn't comment on it i just told her i was going out of town and needed to reschedule. She then asked where i was going..I told her i was going out of town to visit a family member. I was very scared and yes that was a lie. My next date to spk with her is early next week. I am trying to get some sort of legal advice before then. I do not have the funds for a lawyer and i am still receiving assistance. I don't have a criminal record and i have never even received a parking ticket. I am scared to death becaue i have many health issues and i take a lot of medication. I will not receive my medication if i go to jail. The jails here are very nasty i hear and there is like a 3 week wait for one tylenol. I am very scared please help. i did report my income but i have no proof

My questions are:

Do i have to meet with this investigator?

If i don't will i be issued a warrant or will an agent really come out?

 

[swalsh411]

Do not speak with the investigator or any other person who is looking to put you in jail and ruin your life with a felony record. If you cannot afford an attorney to represent you, then you should shut up and IF they press charges you can get a public defender.

A warrant will be issued if they have probable cause to believe you have committed a crime. Not speaking with them will not increase the likelihood of this. In fact, by speaking with them you may inadvertently provide information which will help lead to your arrest.

In short, keep your mouth shut.

 

[41tellthetruth]

On the other hand**************.

If you didn't do anything wrong simply meet with the investigator and get the matter cleared up. Contrary to what many posters here think the police or investigators are not interested in putting you in jail or ruining your life. They don't get a bonus if your put in jail. They are simply trying to find out what happened. However if you did do something wrong get an attorney.

 

[Zigner]

If you didn't do anything wrong simply meet with the investigator and get the matter cleared up. Contrary to what many posters here think the police or investigators are not interested in putting you in jail or ruining your life. They don't get a bonus if your put in jail. They are simply trying to find out what happened. However if you did do something wrong get an attorney.

You are so 100% dead wrong on this. There is NO benefit for the OP.

 

[xylene]

If you didn't do anything wrong simply meet with the investigator and get the matter cleared up. Contrary to what many posters here think the police or investigators are not interested in putting you in jail or ruining your life. They don't get a bonus if your put in jail. They are simply trying to find out what happened. However if you did do something wrong get an attorney.

Fraud investigators DO NOT just randomly interview people.

They INTERROGATE people to build a case.

Do you truly think you are so smart to not say something that could be rope enough to hang you. Innocent or not?

 

[commentator]

They have very likely obtained your tax records, and now are questioning the amount of money you reported that you earned as opposed to what your income tax records show that you earned.

If you receive public assistance you will doubtless qualify for Legal Aid, perhaps you should talk to a legal aid attorney. But truth be told, if you falsified or reported incorrectly the information you gave to the department last year and received benefits you are liable to be penalized for this. If you didn't, the information will prove this out. You either did it or you didn't do it.

No attorney can change that. Not talking to them will simply cause them to press harder, because yes, when you sign up for public assistance, you give them the right to get all into your personal information, and you are supposed to cooperate with their processes. You can bet you'll lose your benefits because you refuse to cooperate with them. Very quickly.

You know that the department will have all the records of the information you gave them last year while you were working, don't you? Not much way you can prove you did report it if you didn't and they've got the paperwork showing you didn't. You won't be able to deny it if they've got all the records, including what you have really earned and the paperwork where you gave them the incorrect information. Just saying "I called it in and told somebody..." isn't going to fly, either. Because you are signing to affirm that the information you give it true and correct. If they didn't get the actual information, and you signed anything saying this was your income, knowing it was not correct, then you're still liable.

I'm interested in how this became a criminal complaint, instead of just a matter for the department investigator. I spent some time investigating fraud at the state level. They will not just give up on this because you won't meet with them.This seems to me like the exact tack to take if you want to be in jail and in court with a public defender. They will want to get their records straight, they won't just let this go.Have you by any chance gotten some letters about this before now and just ignored them? This is about the time of year that they begin to get and verify their records from 2009 income taxes. So they may just be getting started on this case.

If you "made a mistake" on the amount of income you reported or the date you actually quit this job last year, they may penalize you a month or two for doing it. If you blatantly failed to report it, if you showed no income from this job at all, or used a fake identity, that's much more serious. If its a simple misreporting, not blatant fraud, you may be cut off for a while, will have to recertify for all assistance after the sanctions are over. This is very different from being cut off forever, and very different from being dragged off to jail.
But refuse to cooperate, refuse to take their calls as they try to investigate, and that place where you get one Tylenol a week sounds like where you may end up.