MINEOLA, N.Y. – Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced the arrest and arraignment today of a Long Beach woman who fraudulently obtained over $40,000 in taxpayer-funded benefits that she was not eligible to receive.
Renessa Evans, 35, was arrested today by DA investigators and arraigned before Nassau District Court Judge Rhonda Fischer on two counts of Grand Larceny in the 3rd Degree (a D felony), two counts of Welfare Fraud in the 3rd Degree (a D felony) and seven counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the 1st Degree (an E felony).
Judge Fischer set bail at $2,500 cash or $5,000 bond. If convicted of the top charge, Evans faces up to seven years in prison. She is due back in court on Jan. 16.
“By committing these fraudulent acts, this defendant took taxpayer funds meant to assist some of the neediest people in our county – the vast majority of whom receive only the benefits that they are entitled to under the law,” Acting DA Singas said. “My office will continue to protect our vital publicly-funded social safety net from the selfish actions of a few.”
Acting DA Singas said that in April 2009, in January 2010, and February 2013 Evans filed false applications with Long Beach Housing Authority, which stated that her income was $1,620 a month from unemployment insurance. Evans also did not list a live-in boyfriend as a resident at the home.
Between January 2008 and April 2010, Evans filed seven separate applications and recertifications for Medicaid, Food Stamp, and Temporary Assistance benefits for herself. In each recertification, Evans claimed she earned minimal income, and failed to list her live-in boyfriend as residing in the home.
As a result of the false applications and recertifications, Evans received approximately $30,000 in rent subsidies to which she was not entitled, and more than $10,000 in Medicaid, Food Stamp and Temporary Assistance Benefits to which she was not entitled.
The case against Evans came as a result of a tip to Acting DA Singas’ Criminal Complaint Unit.
Assistant District Attorney Edward Bradley of Acting DA Singas’ Government and Consumer Fraud Bureau is prosecuting the case. Evans is represented by the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County.