Baltimore Woman Pleads Guilty to Food Stamp and Medicaid Fraud

Baltimore, Maryland – Tiffany Saunders Carraway, age 34, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty today to theft of government property arising from a scheme to falsify her income and living arrangements to illegally obtain food stamp and Medicaid benefits.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Michael McGill of the Social Security Administration (SSA) - Office of Inspector General, Philadelphia Field Division; and Inspector General William E. Johnson, Jr. of the Maryland Department of Human Resources, Office of Inspector General.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), previously known as the Food Stamp Program, is administered by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), together with state agencies. The program funds low-income individuals to allow them to purchase food.  SNAP paid monthly benefits to individuals found to be eligible based in part on the beneficiary’s income and living arrangements.

Medicaid is a federal-state health insurance program for low-income and needy people. Medicaid paid benefits to individuals found to be eligible based in part on the beneficiary’s income and living arrangements.

According to her plea agreement, Carraway worked at SSA.  She began receiving Medicaid benefits for her four children in 2006.  In 2007, Carraway married and began living together with her spouse who was also employed by SSA.  Carraway did not report this change in living arrangements or household income to Medicaid.  In 2009, Carraway and her husband bought a $170,000 home in Baltimore.

In 2008, Carraway applied for SNAP benefits, underreporting her own income and failing to disclose her marriage and her husband’s income.  She also provided SNAP with documents purporting to show that she was paying rent, rather than living in the home that she and her husband purchased.

Between 2008 and 2011, Carraway received $26,885.31 in SNAP benefits; and between 2008 and 2013, she received approximately $68,482.60 in Medicaid benefits, to which she would not have been entitled if her true income and living arrangements had been disclosed.

Carraway faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for theft of government property and a $250,000 fine.  U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar scheduled sentencing for December 2, 2015, at 10:00 a.m.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the SSA- OIG and DHR-OIG for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Rosenstein thanked Special Assistant United States Attorney Lauren E. Perry, on detail from the Social Security Administration, who is prosecuting the case.