You might remember the article that I wrote titled "When Stealing From Children Isn't Enough" and if you don't you should probably take the time to read it. Because now we are back to the same issue again, and as you can tell its not the first and certainly won't be the last. Child support programs lack accountability nationwide.
Another occurrence of government officials stealing both from the taxpayers nationwide and children was documented by the LufkinDailyNews.Com website on April 3, 2008. In fact District Clerk Donna Phillips has all but been convicted of "allegedly" taking $15,758.16 from child support accounts.
NACOGDOCHES — Nacogdoches
District Clerk Donna Phillips has been arrested and charged with theft
by a public servant, a third-degree felony. She was arraigned Thursday
morning by Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace Dorothy Tigner-Thompson, who
set her bond at $8,500. She was immediately released after bonding out
of jail.
She also resigned Thursday, sending a letter to County Judge Joe English, in which she apologized for her "wrongdoings."
According to the arrest affidavit filed in Thompson's court,
Phillips is accused of taking $15,758.16 during 2007 from the child
support account she oversees.
Not too mention, on April 1, 2008 it wasn't a laughing matter for Cynthia Woodard who had to plead guilty to multiple charges resulting from her and her fiance' stealing $10,660.00 or more dollars from taxpayers and children. The Statesman Journal in Salem, Oregon reports:
A former Oregon Department of Justice
employee accused of stealing unclaimed child-support payments from the
state pleaded guilty to all charges in Marion County court Monday.Keizer
resident Cynthia Diane Woodard, 50, pleaded guilty to two counts of
first-degree theft, two counts of identity theft and one count of
misdemeanor official misconduct.Woodard received a 120-day jail sentence and five years of probation from Circuit Judge Jamese Rhoades.
Between
April and June of last year, Woodard and her then-fiancé, Glenn Edward
Huiett, stole about $10,660 in child-support payments intended for two
recipients, a Eugene woman and a Salem woman, Marion County Deputy
District Attorney Don Abar said.
Phillips isn't the first of the clerks to be caught or suspected of embezzling money from children and taxpayers. In fact, just last year I reported in Child Support Clerk Charged With Embezzlement: More Government Corruption
Another County employee, this one in Lauderdale County, has been
indicted by a grand jury on felony embezzlement charges for allegedly
stealing more than $216,000.00 of program money, paid for by taxpayers,
by writing unauthorized checks to herself from January 2002 through
April of 2007. This employee was released on a $10,000.00 bond, which
no doubt was probably a drop in the bucket considering she has already
been sitting on the $216,000.00 plus her lush salary.
Another critical story which cost taxpayers and children that was reported on this blog is Title IV-D Employee Embezzles Quarter of Million in Child Support Enforcement Money:
That's right folks. A California Department of Child Support Services
employee bilked the State Department of Child Support Services of more
than $250,000.00!!! This is just another example of how the current
Title IV-D program is abused by the various States that are voluntarily
participating in the program. The state police have indicated that
there are more than $300,000.00 worth of goods that the employee has in
her possession that were purchased with at least one government credit
card.
We also have bribery and extortion schemes going on which is lining greedy child support enforcement workers' pockets as well, demonstrating further that the child support program just continues to grow and lacks any real accountability as can be seen in the article Child Support Worker Arrested in Bribery Scheme:
According to Local6.Com another Child Support Worker was arrested, this
time in Florida for bribing individuals that were involved with child
support cases.
In the many States, Child Support Workers are funded directly through Title IV
Part D of the Social Security Act if the State programs voluntarily
comply with federal mandates on how to operate. In the beginning a
program to help needy families, it has now turned into a free for all
welfare spending program where the States focus on revenue generation
instead of helping actual needy families. For every dollar spent by the local agency, two more dollars come into the state as a result of the expenditure. This leads to very poor management of the progam and a significant forced over-participation which is costing taxpayers nationwide.
It's time to reign in free for all welfare spending where over 45% of
the participants in the Title IV-D welfare program are middle to
upper-class families that should be paying for their own disputes not
feuding on tax payer money. Shrink back the program for its intended
beneficiaries and shave off nearly 30,000 government employees
nationwide to help control taxpayer waste, fraud, and government
sponsored criminal activity.
For more information about the Title IV-D Program and It's Lack of Accountability:
Overview of Title IV-D Services: Click Here How Federal Funding Drives Judicial Discretion... Click Here Requesting Change: It's a Matter of Administration and Legislation: Click Here The Weekly Standard Indicts CSE Title IV-D Welfare Program: Click Here Will Democrats Actually Reduce Our Deficit? Click Here Following the Title IV-D Money Machine. Click Here.
