An Indiana woman, Willie D. Watts, 42, from Clarksville, has been handed an eighteen-month federal prison sentence and three years of supervised release after she admitted to stealing federal benefits.
The programs defrauded included the Section 8 Housing Voucher, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP), and Social Security programs.
Court filings reveal that from 2014 to 2021, Watts illicitly received assistance from multiple federal initiatives designed to help needy individuals.
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These programs included Section 8 housing vouchers, SNAP, Social Security Survivors benefits, and Medicaid. Watts falsified claims that she was living with her children and required additional support, whereas they were actually residing with other relatives. She perpetuated these falsehoods in her annual certifications, thereby collecting benefits she was not eligible for.
Specifically, between February 2015 and September 2019, Watts fraudulently claimed Social Security Survivors Benefits meant for her two children after their fathers passed away, by wrongly asserting they were in her care. Instead, she used these funds for her personal expenses and failed to provide for her children as claimed.
Additionally, Watts concealed her true financial status, including ownership of a property in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and the income derived from renting this property. Her dishonesty regarding her income and assets enabled her to unjustly receive a total of $125,753.90 in federal benefits.
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This scheme was not Watts’ first offense. Prior to the events in Indiana, she engaged in a similar fraud in Kentucky, where she was charged in 2016 for defrauding government programs out of over $30,000. Despite a conviction and a suspended three-year prison sentence to probation in 2018, Watts continued her fraudulent activities in Indiana.
U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Myers emphasized the role of federal programs in supporting vulnerable families and condemned Watts’ repeat offenses, highlighting the justice served by her federal prison sentence.
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