Meera Khan, a former employee of the state Department of Children and Families in Miami, was a true welfare queen. She worked for DCF for nine years and during that time faked applications to collect food stamps for herself, as well as ripped off her needy clients by pocketing fraudulent fees. All in all, she is believed to have ripped off about $1.3 million from Florida taxpayers and was arrested after a two-year investigation.
Khan has been charged with 12 counts including racketeering, grand theft, public assistance fraud, and identity fraud after the investigation was conducted by the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office and the state Division of Public Assistance Fraud.
For almost nine years, she worked as an eligibility case worker/processor for DCF in Miami until she recently resigned.
During that time, she stole identity information from numerous acquaintances without their permission and applied for food stamps. She then either used the food stamps herself or worked with crooked companies to turn the food stamps into cash, which she would then pocket.
Khan would also collect fraudulent "insurance premiums," "processing fees," "application fees," "renewal fees," and "filing fees," and then keep the money for herself.
In total, she ripped off about $1.3 million from Florida's taxpayers and most needy.
"When any public employee, particularly someone working with the needy, uses their position to enrich themselves, the people of Florida have a right to be frustrated and enraged," Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. "We can never tolerate fraud and theft by anyone, particularly by trusted public employees upon whom our community depends."
Khan was arrested yesterday morning and is being held on $835,500 bond.
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