Woman Arrested, Accused Of Illegally Collecting Public Assistance
EAGLE COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)- A woman has been arrested and accused of fraudulently using public assistance benefits.
In April, the Eagle County Joint Fraud Investigations Task Force began investigating the misuse of services and providing false information of the supsect Jennifer Lee Hetei.
Hetei, 50, of Eagle County, was arrested, booked into the Eagle County Detention Facility and faces multiple felony theft charges.
"Health and Human Services is able to fund families who are underprivileged. From time to time they're going to be double checking and digging deep like getting bank records to make sure that people claiming they don't have income really don't," said 5th Judicial District Attorney Bruce Brown.
Investigators claim that Hetei intentionally misrepresented her household composition and income to make herself eligible for public assistance benefits from Nov. 2011 through March of this year.
During that time Hetei collected $65,730 worth in benefits that she was not eligible for.
If you think you may have any information about the suspect or this crime, please call the Eagle County Sheriff's Office at (970) 328-8500 or Eagle County Crime Stoppers at 970-328-7007, 1-800-972-TIPS, or text a tip from your cell phone by texting STOPCRIME plus your message to CRIMES (274637). If your tip leads to the arrest and indictment of any suspect involved, you could earn up to a $1,000 reward from the Crime Stoppers.
