KINGSTON, N.Y. — A Kingston woman is facing multiple felony charges in connection with the alleged receipt of more than $28,000 in food stamp benefits to which she was not entitled, the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office said Thursday.
Her arrest was one of nine reported by authorities Wednesday, alleging fraudulent receipt of welfare benefits totaling more than $76,200.
Toni Dejesus, 50, was arrested by Ulster County sheriff’s deputies on Monday, Aug. 26, and was charged with welfare fraud and grand larceny, along with nine counts of offering a false instrument for filing, all felonies.
Investigators from the District Attorney’s Office found that between Aug. 2013 and July 2019, Dejesus allegedly filed multiple documents regarding her employment and household composition with the Ulster County Department of Social Services, which contained information “that was not truthful and [was] altered,” according to a press release.
Dejesus allegedly received $28,099 in Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits to which she was not entitled, the prosecutor’s office said.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, other recent welfare- and SNAP-related arrests by Ulster County sheriff’s deputies include:
• Dina Taylor, 41, of Gardiner, who was arrested on Saturday, July 24, and charged with welfare fraud and three counts of offering a false instrument for filing, all felonies, in connection with the alleged receipt of more than $17,000 in SNAP and welfare benefits to which she was not entitled.
Investigators from the Ulster County Department of Social Services Special Investigation Unit, along with the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General and the Ulster County District Attorney’s office, found that between April 2014 and January 2017, Taylor allegedly filed multiple applications for Medicaid and SNAP benefits with the Department of Social Services without disclosing her income. Due to the undisclosed income, Taylor is alleged to have received $3,817 in SNAP benefits and $13,501.29 in Medicaid benefits to which she was not entitled.
• Yvette Vega, 36, of Middletown, was arrested on Monday, July 22, and charged with welfare fraud, grand larceny and four counts of offering a false instrument for filing, all felonies. Vega is alleged to have received $11,645 in SNAP benefits to which she was not entitled.
Investigators from the Ulster County Department of Social Services Special Investigation Unit, along with the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office, charge that Vega filed multiple applications for SNAP benefits between May 2016 and January 2019 without disclosing that she owned and was operating a business in Orange County. She also failed to disclose the income she received from that business, authorities said.
• Rebecca Martinez, 54, of New Paltz, was arrested Friday, Aug. 23, and charged with welfare fraud and 13 counts of offering a false instrument for filing, all felonies.
Investigators from Social Services and the District Attorney’s Office allege that between April 2015 and July 2019, Martinez filed several falsified documents, applications and recertifications which failed to disclose her total income. Martinez is alleged to have received $10,944 in SNAP benefits to which she was not entitled.
• Natalie Skipp, 39, of Saugerties, was arrested on Wednesday, Aug. 21, and charged with welfare fraud and offering a false instrument for filing (two counts), all felonies, and with making a punishable false written statement, a misdemeanor.
Investigators from Social Services and the District Attorney’s Office allege that Skipp filed for and received $1,860.62 in temporary assistance benefits to house herself and her children during the month of July, when her children were actually in the care and custody of relatives in another state.
• Jasmine Callwood, 30, of Kingston, was arrested on Monday, Aug. 19, and charged with offering a false instrument for filing, a felony, and with welfare fraud, a misdemeanor.
Callwood is alleged to have applied for temporary assistance in July 2019 without disclosing that the gainfully employed father of her children was living in her household.
• Samantha Irizarry, 28, of Ellenville, was arrested on Tuesday, Aug. 13, and charged with two counts of offering a false instrument for filing, both felonies, and with welfare fraud and making a punishable false written statement, both misdemeanors.
Irizarry is alleged to have falsified official documents to extend her stay at a local motel paid for by the Department of Social Services in July. She then allegedly provided a false written statement denying her involvement.
• Magdalene Corbin, 30, of Hurley, was arrested on Thursday, Aug. 1, and charged with offering a false instrument for filing, a felony, and with welfare fraud, a misdemeanor.
Corbin is alleged to have filed an application for temporary assistance without disclosing that her husband, who she listed as an absent parent, was living in her household. Disclosing her husband’s residence would have required Corbin to search for jobs or in the closure of her temporary assistance case, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
• Alan Hogan, 60, of Highland, was arrested on Thursday, Aug. 8, and charged with welfare fraud and offering a false instrument for filing (two counts), all felonies. Between February 2018 and July 2019, it is alleged that Hogan did not disclose his employment, resulting in receipt of $1,054 in SNAP benefits, $2,448 in Medicaid and and $2,841 in home energy assistance to which he was not entitled.
Each of the suspects was released with tickets for Ulster Town Court.
