- Oct 17, 2011
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State employees suspected of stealing from low-income Texans' public assistance accounts
Seven state employees have been fired for improperly accessing — and in some cases, stealing money from — accounts of thousands of Texans who receive Medicaid, food stamps and other public assistance, The Texas Tribune has confirmed.Four of those employees were fired in December in what is believed to be the largest data breach in the Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s history after officials say they had accessed the personal account information of 61,104 Texans without a clear business reason.
Because the investigation is ongoing, officials have not released the names of the fired employees and would not confirm on Friday if any personal information of the 61,104 was leaked to the public or if any of their funds were stolen.
In the breach affecting the 61,104 Texans, a private contractor alerted agency officials on Nov. 21 of potential suspicious activity.
...another two were fired after $270,000 was stolen from some 500 food stamp accounts
On Jan. 31, a member of the public reported that an employee in the eligibility division was changing personal identifying numbers, or PINs, on clients’ cards and selling the cards for half their worth in cash. Investigators found that the employee had changed PINs on 211 food stamp cards, leading to $81,638 stolen. The employee was fired and the case referred to local prosecutors.
Then last summer, the inspector general’s office found another division employee who had changed the PINs on 391 food stamp cards, using the benefits for illegal purchases resulting in a loss of $190,518. The employee was fired and the matter referred to a local district attorney.
