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Cantonment Woman Charged With Food Stamp, Medicaid Fraud
May 14, 2015
A Cantonment woman is facing two felony charges for allegedly collection public assistance while a household member was employed.
Kathleen A. Leavis, 39, was charged with felony fraud for failing to disclose facts for public aid.
According to an investigator with the Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Public Assistance Fraud, Leavis applied for public assistance benefits indicating that no one was employed, when in fact a household member gross $80,350 while benefits were received from August 2010 to December 2012.
The investigator said Leavis received food stamp and medicaid benefits for the employed household member and their mutual children during the time period. The state reported that she received $11,910.46 in wrongful public assistance.
Leavis was released from the Escambia County Jail on a $3,000 bond.
Comments
30 Responses to “Cantonment Woman Charged With Food Stamp, Medicaid Fraud”
It did not say 80k a year, it said “a household member gross $80,350 while benefits were received from August 2010 to December 2012″ I think the real point is she lied. He does not matter how much money the person in the household received but they lied about the money coming into the home.
Diamond, that’s 80k per year. 2010 to 2012 is not 4 years sweetheart.
Mot that I am saying she did the right thing not reporting the income, but just run the numbers yourself in this particular case. Between August 2010 and December 2012 the income was $1,545.20 a month. After rent and utilities and gas to and from work,not to mention the non food necessities like toilet paper, soap,shampoo, etc. that doesn’t leave a lot for food. And yes, you can survive,but have you been to the grocery store lately and tried to feed and clothe kids, and ,oh yes, I forgot about the kids going to school. Have you paid any of those fees lately? The benefits she received was $229 a month. Again, she was wrong for not reporting the income, but let the numbers speak for themselves before we start wishing we were in her shoes.
Just saying.
You know cheese, juice, rice and potatoes and beans make such a healthy meal. The person that said that we should just hive people that does not know anything about nutrition. I would like them to eat just that for 365 days.
I hear people hear talk about people on ebt driving expensive card and wearing expensive clothes not thinking that they maybe borrowing someone’s car or that the person might have saved up a year for a outfit to go on a job interview.
I am on EBT. I have a job that just barely covers bills (electric, water, and rent. People out there will say well get a better job. Not so easy.
Yes this woman was in the wrong and there are others like her but please do not group everyone that receives EBT in the same category. There are a lot of us that are hard working people that are trying to take care of our families.
“hard to trade peanut butter and flour for drugs and booze”
It isn’t as hard as you’d think it is to exchange cheese,fruit juice,etc for drugs. Tide laundry soap,baby formula,etc are now being exchanged for drugs instead of money. Where there is a will there’s a way. If people want drugs they’ll figure out a way to get it.But I do agree that they should go back to the days of commodities. It would save lots of federal money doing it that way.
To Darla—damned right on the mark
It was called commodities each month to pick up downtown
Hard to trade peanut butter and flour for drugs and booze
I do have a suggestion.
Discontinue the EBT card system and go back to giving cheese, fruit juice, rice, potatoes etc. Not to mention these are healthier choices. We are still fighting childhood obesity, right? Michelle Obama should totally support this idea:)
I’m not the sharpest pencil but I do remember less obesity back during those days.
come on now people we don’t know this lady circumstance. we don’t know if this other person was helping her or hindering her. either was she has people or kid that had to be feed. let us remember judge not that we may be judged. we all had indiscretion we just know hers. I’m not faulting her. because it’s called survival. and if she love the ones she feel. I comend her for doing what she could to keep one child from being hungry
please we all are human we do things and call it survival. we know not her situation or cause. let us judge not that we make be judged on our own indiscretion. could it be who ever lived with her did what they wanted with there money. and she still had mouths to feed. and 80,000 dollars is not that much money in four years do the math.
You know, when I’m in a store, I just don’t get close enough to the people in front of me to see if they’re using an EBT card. Even if they were to be using one, I don’t spend time looking at their vehicles or their groceries and making judgments.
Of course, I don’t drive a Maserati and collect government assistance, either. Being on government assistance should be temporary, not a lifestyle.
Both are wrong.
Y’all be nice to each other and try to do the right thing, a’ight?
I wish I had an income of 80k a year!!
Did she use her EBT card to bond out?
There are much bigger fish to catch compared to this minnow.
Yeah it’s disgusting. Yeah it’s wrong. Have any of you looked around at your smartphone/tech dependent children or watched the news long enough to realize they aren’t doing anything about this behavior because the govt is encouraging you to be dependent. There is a plan, believe it. Bush/Obama, it matters not. It’ll be the same either way. Republican or Democrat is just a guise to divide people from making real change.
throw the book at her!!!!!!!! :
Only hope is to vote out people who give away money/stuff to buy votes. Study politics, don’t just vote party…any party…vote for the good of our children/grandchildren not for what’s good for us, what’s good for our future.
I saw a lady at the Tom Thumb in Molino the other day buying food with her ebt card and using cash to pay for her beer(Keystone Light). I think they should make it possible for them to use their ebt cards to buy beer so she can get some BUD LIGHT! Just kidding of course. The sad thing is it was only 10:30 in the morning. Why wasn’t she working or at least out looking for a job? When I was a kid, my mom was raising four kids by herself and could not get any kind of assistance. Sad world we live in!
OK! Now the system has found this one! What of the other thousands that play the system, as described in the various posts?
Could a judge hand down a sentence that would replace a bum from soliciting money by the road, with a cheat such as this, wearing a sign…I Tried To Cheat the System and Got Caught.
This will never happen because the legal system would declare this to be cruel punishment.
Where do we turn to correct this mess? Thievery, in and by any means, should be grounds for a public display…say flogging!
Yep, I hear ya Ken!
Seen: Tooling around in a brand new Lexus, UWF sticker, same modus operandi as your subject. Must be nice is all the rest of us working slobs can say.
I know many people beating the system. I tried to find a number to report people and that is not a easy task, yet the government spent millions on ads to create awareness for people to know about welfare. If folks receiving benefits had to do 40 hrs. a week of community service it would purge the system quick. If you need money to eat then you should be willing to work for it.
Had a non-working and very capable of working neighbor who used to sell his EBT for cash then used that money to purchase drugs! Reported him, but to the best of my knowledge he is still receiving benefits!
There is a huge black market for people sell money off of there EBT cards for quick cash. It is publically known and rampant. Instead of cracking down in a significant way. The authorities pick on one lady in cantonment, then all sit around and pat each other on the back. Good job.
This is the reason why some who really need it can’t get it, or doesn’t get enough. Makes me sick, I know a few people like this, reporting does no good… DCF can be lazy or just does not look into it hard enough once reported.
If we weeded out all these people from the system it would improve greatly. Send her to jail to think about her fleecing the American taxpayers. She most likely doesn’t even care and considers herself a victim.
Several months ago I was pulling in the Walmart parking lot, a brand new Maseratti. When the driver got out of the car, she was dressed to the nine’s. No Walmart clothes or shoes, definitely high dollar attire. By the time I was ready to check out, she was in line ahead of me and paid for her groceries with her food stamps card. Kind of makes you wonder how a person can dress in expensive clothes, drive and expensive new sports car and cannot afford to pay for her groceries without using public assistance.
This is just 1 of probably many. They need to investigate these applicants a little closer before just “rubber stamp” an approval.
She needs some jail time to think this thing over.
This just disgusts me.
Maybe she meant he doesn’t do any work around the house.
Get The Rest Of Them!!!!!!! The ones that need it can’t get it!!!
One of the many reasons that America is broke.
And as a tax payer it shouldn’t peeve me off that I’m paying for those that don’t and pating for people like this. Just disgusting!!