ROCKLAND, Maine — A local man has been summoned for allegedly forging documents in an attempt to get general assistance from the city.
Jeremy Wadsworth, 26, of Rockland is charged with forgery, according to the Rockland Police Department.
“Wadsworth went to the general assistance office at Rockland City Hall and attempted to acquire money,” stated a press release from the Police Department. “While doing this Wadsworth falsified information on the general assistance application and then created a false rent receipt in order to support the information he provided.”
The motive? Wadsworth owes more than $1,000 to Central Maine Power Co. and needed to pay his delinquent electricity bills, according to police on Thursday.
Wadsworth does not have a court date yet, according to the local courts.
OMG. Welfare fraud in Maine? Say it ain’t so.
Not true! Emily Cain said so.
OMG. Desperate people do desperate things.
Thank you Mr. Lepage for trying to curb the welfare troubles.
Get used to it.
Its just starting.
Maybe Emily Cain can help the poor guy out.
I would suggest that the City of Rockland send his unpaid CMP bill to Emily Cain to pay out of her pocket. Then she’d feel better when she publicly stated that there’s no welfare abuse.
He falsifyed a rent receipt meaning that he has not paid his rent either. This is just sheer stupidity. You can’t not pay your landlord and the utilities and expect to have a place to live. I imagine the landlord will be happy to see this guy MOVE!
Someone told me that you can’t throw people out of rentals during the winter months. I have no idea….is that true? If so, just another reason I could NEVER be a landlord in Maine.
no, that is not true. If you don’t pay your rent, landlords can and will evict you.
A tenant that does not pay their rent on time has to be served a 10 day notice to quit. It states that they have not paid their rent and that they have 10 days to pay it. The next step is to file papers with the court and pay the sheriff’s dept to serve the court papers with a court date. Then the judge has to evict if the rent is not paid by the day of court. They get so many days, usually 3 and if not moved out they are locked out. Police can be called because after the judge makes the order to vacate, they are actually trespassing.
It depends if they are on assistance or not…and how far behind they are.
That is incorrect. The same laws apply to everyone.
He probably been more happy to see him succede and get the money.
What does it mean that the fellow “forged” a rent receipt – as indicated in other reports. If he has also not been able to pay rent where he lives, and is also, quite possibly, living without electricity, a felony charge is not going to help anything. People commit violent crimes and receive less punishment.
And say the fellow is convicted for “forgery.” Anyone seeing that on a record is going to think it involved large amounts of money. Not condoning this in any way, but falsifying a receipt would seem to be more in keeping with the degree of potential harm here.
It is unfortunate that he made this mistake, and given that there was no chance he could have gotten away with it, I wonder why the matter was taken to this level. If there was no history of wrong behavior, then how wrong would it be to say, “The rent receipt does not check out – what’s the story?” And deal with this internally as much as possible before pressing charges. What is the whole story?
Here are the State Statutes – they address putting someone to work to ‘pay’ the grant.
http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/22/title22sec4316-A.html
They most likely will not help him with his electricity bill because he has to provide receipts to show how he spent his income. He made his own rent receipt because he did not pay the rent that he was suppose to pay.
Reporting Fraud in Maine
Allegations of fraud or attempted fraud involving funds, including Food Stamps,
administered by the Department of Health and Human Services should be sent to:
Fraud, Investigation and Recovery
11 State House Station
Whitten Road
Augusta, Maine 04333-0011
Phone numbers for DHHS Fraud office are:
1-207-287-2409 and 1-800-442-6003
Further questions and suspicions can also be submitted by e-mail.
Fraud.Dhhs@maine.gov
Contact the Office of the Attorney General
Phone: 207-626-8800
Mailing Address:
Office of the Attorney General
6 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
http://www.maine.gov/ag/contact.html
Do All three, Phone, E-mail and send a Letter.
Follow-up in 30 days with a Certified letter if no response.
Send a letter Directly to the Governor’s Office, that should get their attention.
Keep a written log of actions and attempts to notify. Hold them Responsible!
Ever return something to a store that you had used? Such vehemence can only come from one who has never erred in any matter. And, PS — one can no longer post-date checks, as they are processed immediately, and to do so without sufficient funds is also a crime.
“Ever return something to a store that you had used?”
Winterport Track & Field?
No. I assess need, ask a lot of questions, do the research, gather data to make an intelligent and correct decision before I puchase an item within my budget.*
So how is documenting correspondence and holding someone responsible, being “vehement”? An intensity or forcefulness of expression?
Providing the correct office contact info sounds more like a Public Service as well as Good business practice so that one Won’t make a mistake and ensure that Legally Qualified people receive the proper funds. That way fraud Will be reduced, monies used as intended and budgets balanced.
Sounds All Good to me and the other Taxpayers.
Oh, and people that are responsible, honest, use basic math and watch expenditures, don’t kite checks.
*I did buy a leisure suit once, did a lot of dancing, so it got well used.
But I still have it, as the style will return someday.
That’s all great to hear. The world needs more pure, public watchdogs reporters. As to your leisure suit — an attorney friend of mine once said that the most useful, socially helpful job he ever had was digging ditches.
Your vehemence is in the breadth and depth to which you urge people to report what is perceived to be possible suspicious use of funds granted, based on no first-hand knowledge. Kind of reminds me of a fellow named McCarthy.
Well here’s a Point to consider.
Is there some fraud being committed in Any program that supplies “free” anything?
Yes
Are there people close to this fraud that are aware that it is going on, that it is a crime and have Proof of it?
Yes
I myself have assisted in investigations providing required proof for further corrective actions.
I have also been a target of accusations, but I keep my paperwork in order, walk a straight line and my ducks in a row. It was no contest as I came out squeaky clean and showed the accuser to be a fool. That person is now Gone.
Truth and Facts are Bulletproof.
I think IPledge is right in asking for help in correcting any “errors” out there.
Knowing that a person is innocent until proven guilty, supplying Proof is part of the process.
As for his leisure suit, well, I still have one hanging in my closet too, and I bet it fits!
LOL !
It is absolutely untenable that you state that anything offered for free contains an element of fraud.
And, for the record, anyone receiving any benefits is, in fact, paying plenty of taxes. It is not only homeowners and workers who are “taxpayers.”
A funny thing — as an example: women who do not work outside the home – call them housewives or homemakers – are never taken to task because they do not have outside jobs, yet they are, in fact, “supported” — well, that’s the perception, anyway. But the only reason to mention this honorable work, is the high percentage of people who will post about the worthless people who “do not work.” What is, then, acceptable “work” in life?
And, is it not fraudulent when work is not performed 100%. Going through the motions of working, without giving 100%, yet still collecting a paycheck, is, I think, for more heinous.
Is a paycheck, no matter how obtained, iswhat sanctions a human being as being “worthy.”
Can i just report an entire town?
So he changed a few things around to get bailed out is that anything Banks did not do. Show record profits after the bail out totally rip people off on refienace scams. Why are they not in jail?????????????????????????????????????????
It is wrong to do so, and that’s a fact. He would not have gotten “bailed out,” in any event. See page 28 – maximum allowance http://www.ci.rockland.me.us/vertical/Sites/%7BDE9EDD66-EFF4-4A6B-8A58-AA91254C1584%7D/uploads/CH8.pdf
Banks do many wrong things for much more money they are not punished.
The thing of it is – the people involved in bank wrongdoings, are usually of a class/social status, so that they often are relatively unscathed by bad press. A local guy stands little chance of being able to get past a widely-publicized allegation.
I dont think he would have paid it back with interest.
I was taught “two wrong’s don’t make a right”
Light bill? Exactly what kinds of ‘lights’ are we talking about?
$1000. ?!
That’s a Year’s worth of bills unless you have electric heat or . . .
a lot of lights left on in your cellar?
Hmmm . . .
I’ve known people that owed around 20k and their kids had nebulizers or they needed the fridge to keep insulin cold and CMP used to carry them. Now that…would make me angry because the system was obviously being played. These people were making our bills higher in my opinion. CMP doesn’t allow the bill to reach that point any longer but I don’t know what the exact rules are.
I’ve known people that owed around 20k and their kids had nebulizers or they needed the fridge to keep insulin cold and CMP used to carry them. Now that…would make me angry because the system was obviously being played. These people were making our bills higher in my opinion. CMP doesn’t allow the bill to reach that point any longer but I don’t know what the exact rules are.
I’ve known people that owed around 20k and their kids had nebulizers or they needed the fridge to keep insulin cold and CMP used to carry them. Now that…would make me angry because the system was obviously being played. These people were making our bills higher in my opinion. CMP doesn’t allow the bill to reach that point any longer but I don’t know what the exact rules are.
The system worked – fraud was thwarted and the fool has a court date.
yessah
More evidence that the destitute are responsible for our own impoverishment.
Ah.. “satire.”
Back to this sketchy report: DID the fellow receive any money?
A skewed stretch of …. satire?
In this milieu, the chance that a comment may be satirical, is, unfortunately, slim. My apologies.
That’s got to be the most ignorant thing I’ve ever heard. My oldest son went without heat in his apartment(that he shares with a roomate) for 2 full heating seasons(and he works full time for too little pay) because he was too proud to ask any program for help. So do you think he should have been cold like he was? His poverty was caused by a company (so like many others) that are too cheap to pay a living wage!!! Maybe you grew up with a silver spoon in your mouth but he didn’t!
That’s got to be the most ignorant thing I’ve ever heard. My oldest son went without heat in his apartment(that he shares with a roomate) for 2 full heating seasons(and he works full time for too little pay) because he was too proud to ask any program for help. So do you think he should have been cold like he was? His poverty was caused by a company (so like many others) that are too cheap to pay a living wage!!! Maybe you grew up with a silver spoon in your mouth but he didn’t!