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Maui woman gets 90-day jail sentence for welfare fraud

WAILUKU » A Maui County woman convicted of stealing thousands of dollars in welfare benefits has been sentenced to three months in jail.

The Maui News reports that Christiana Santos was sentenced after pleading no contest to charges of theft and welfare fraud.

Court records show the 35-year-old woman falsely reported that her children were living with her to collect welfare benefits from December 2013 to February 2015.

Santos’ attorney said in court that her client’s actions weren’t intentional and that her children had been “with her sometimes.”

The judge denied Santos’ request to have the conviction wiped from her record, saying he couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t commit any more crimes.

A restitution hearing to determine exactly how much Santos must repay is set for Sept. 22.

24 responses to “Maui woman gets 90-day jail sentence for welfare fraud”

  1. Pocho says:

    If she is an immigrant with limited English language skills garrans the judge would have been more lenient with her

  2. warriorsanddolphins says:

    I say it once and i’ll say it again, this is only the tip of the ice berg. Ex. Unmarried couple living together. Boyfriend makes big bucks in construction.Girlfriend makes ok money at a supermarket. Girlfriend has 2 kids and claims to state that she is single and on one income. There you go. Instant welfare checks each month and ebt for shopping.

    • soundofreason says:

      I know of that EXACT situation going on right now with someone.

      • Keolu says:

        Call the fraud hotline 587-8444

      • twitter6 says:

        Ditto. People falsify their application and fail to list income earners as household members. Huge scam and I am aware of someone currently engaged in this blatant behavior. Unfortunately several reports to several fraud hotlines have fell on deaf ears. Hire more fraud investigators and the state could save millions if not billions of dollars

    • tygah says:

      They use the monthly assistance money to buy SUV’s or pickup trucks with fancy rims/tires & stereo system. Then register it under someone else’s name & park it on the public housing property with an HHA decal on the windshield. You don’t need a PhD to figure out a lot of the people on assistance are committing welfare fraud. The only way they get busted is when someone squeals on them.

  3. lespark says:

    Sounds like Clinton. She didn’t intend to defraud the government.

  4. soundofreason says:

    They need to do an amnesty period announcing SERIOUS penalties will be forthcoming afterwards.

    • roxie says:

      The State MUST give out a bounty for information on abusers, A $1000 bounty is just a small percentage of a months payment in EBT and monthly welfare. The State must PAY A LITTLE, SAVE A LOT.

  5. Tita Girl says:

    Auwe. Too bad she couldn’t get the same judges as Piontek or the Scamming Sisters of the Myron B. Thompson state public charter school. She would have received a mild scolding…maybe finger wagging and then sent home. And, the conviction would have been wiped. Clean.

  6. iwanaknow says:

    Only 90 days?…….too short

  7. paniolo says:

    Her children had been “with her sometimes.” Now, they can visit her in jail SOMETIMES.

    • Pocho says:

      you know what, she won’t need welfare checks staying in the slammers and it’d cost us taxpayers more money to house her and take of her kids. Lose lose situation here. smh

  8. Blunt says:

    Podagee joke time.

    One day a Portuguese man walked into a store. He walked up to the counter and said to the attendant “May I please have a spicy Portuguese sausage?”

    The attendant replied “Oh, are you Potagee?”

    “You know, I kind of resent that”, said the man. “If I had said I wanted an Italian sausage would you have asked me if I was Italian?”

    “No, sir”, said the store attendant.

    “Well then how come you asked if I was Portuguese?”, shouted the man.

    “Cause this is one hardware store”, said the attendant.

    • Ronin006 says:

      I am of German ancestry, so let’s make this joke about Germans so I do not get accused of being racists.

      A German kid walked into the kitchen where his mom was baking a cake and asked “Ma, can I lick the bowl?”

      The mother replied, “No, flush it like everyone else.”

  9. KWAY says:

    A real parasite on society

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