{"id":128812,"date":"2014-07-08T15:49:43","date_gmt":"2014-07-08T15:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=128812"},"modified":"2014-07-08T15:50:48","modified_gmt":"2014-07-08T15:50:48","slug":"1-million-food-stamps-distributed-dead-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/editorials\/1-million-food-stamps-distributed-dead-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 1 million food stamps distributed to deceased"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Louisiana state\u00a0<\/span>audit has revealed that over one million dollars worth of food stamps has been\u00a0distributed to the deceased.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3,938 deceased individuals<\/a>\u00a0received food stamps,\u00a0between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2013<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

According to The Hayride<\/a>:<\/p>\n

For those individuals who continued to receive benefits a month after their death, the state spent $272,951. For two months, that number fell to $260,089. For three months, it dipped to $201,258. However, for 4 or more months, the state spent $556,259 on benefits going to deceased individuals. That is a total of exactly\u00a0$1,290,557 spent on benefits benefiting Louisianans who have already passed.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The\u00a0Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) said that \u201cit would be difficult to prevent all improper spending in the first month after death because of the amount of time it takes for a death record to become available.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to WWMT<\/a>:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Officials say it’s hard to know exactly who was using the program’s cards after the owners were dead.<\/span>

“On the DCFS funds, the SNAP benefits, you’re not going to recover those funds,” said Louisiana Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera.\u00a0<\/span>

“So, that’s just taxpayer money that’s gone?” he was asked.\u00a0<\/span>

“Yeah. That’s… those are federal funds, taxpayer funds that we’ll not be able to recover,” said Purpera.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n