PORTLAND, Maine — A man and woman living in different towns appeared Tuesday in U.S. District Court on two counts each of Social Security fraud in separate cases.
Jessica Bartlett, 28, of Brunswick and Mark Judd, 33, of Lisbon are accused of using a child’s Social Security number as his and her own to hide income, according to court documents.
Bartlett was released Tuesday on $10,000 unsecured bail. A bail hearing for Judd is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
Bartlett began receiving welfare assistance in 2001 from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, according to court documents.
Her son was assigned a Social Security number in 2007 after his birth.
Bartlett’s alleged fraud came to light late last year, when investigators discovered she had earned more than $1,700 and in October obtained a car loan using her son’s Social Security number, according to court documents. The 2007 Dodge Caravan was repossessed five months after it was purchased.
Judd was living in subsidized housing and began receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families in 2003, according to court documents. His son was assigned a Social Security number in 2004 after his birth.
He earned nearly $23,000 using his son’s Social Security number from two different employers, according to court documents. He also allegedly failed to report a change in income to the property management firm at his housing complex as required.
It could not be determined from court documents if Bartlett and Judd knew each other or worked on the scheme together or separately. Both were arrested Tuesday and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Rich III in back-to-back hearings in federal court in Portland.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David Joyce, who is prosecuting the case, declined Tuesday in an email to comment on whether the cases were connected.
If convicted, each faces up to five years in prison and fines of up to $250,000. Bartlett and Judd also could be ordered to pay back the state and federal assistance they received but did not qualify for if they are found guilty.
On welfare since ’01 and having a baby in ’07?
Nice!
They best be charging interest on all the money we taxpayers loaned these fools over the years…god knows we’d be paying interest and late penalties if we were late depositing the tax dollars to the IRS that these irresponsible loafers depended on!!
…what really sucks is when it comes to restitution they pay what they can, not what hurts.
and never mind the cost for medical care in all those years!
Nope. Welfare fraud is not a problem in Maine.
ROBert Nutting stole over a million and he is the current Speaker of the House. Get back to me when thee doofuses catch up to that #.
Get over it everybody else has !
No…I don’t believe EVERYBODY ELSE has.
That is why they get away with it because people like you do not care enough about it.. Yes people fraud welfare and should be charged. But the white collar crime steal many times more and gets away with it. Some things we you should never get over till they are made right.
good statement…the rich always seem to get away with it, or pay back a fraction of what they stole….Violette, anyone?
Yeah, like Bernie Madhoff. He only got life! He should’a got life X3 in the electric chair!! Dang that rich sob!!
Bernie is a tip of an iceberg!
Oh yea that dastardly Madhoff made off with all those Gagilliions from his rich investors! SHRIEEKKK!!!!!!! Notice how I stayed on topic you bunch of liberal mushrooms!!!
Not so David. What do we hear from Lib. Dem.s everytime someone says anything about fraud or abuse?
“Those Right wing fanatics wanna push Ganny off a cliff”or “Damn Republicons waana starve your babies”
Your claim about “White collar crime” wasn’t even mentioned so how CAN we care about. Your tactic of projecting guilt missed by a long shot.
Try to stay on topic even when your mistaken.
If you know for sure that he stole over a million dollars then you and 29 other people have a moral responsibility to see he pays every penny back. If you do not pursue this issue then you are guilty of allowing someone to cheat the system.Flag
no not everyone has, the guy is a crook and a thief…and the people of Oakland are some stupid! Even if he paid it back, which he won’t, he is still a dishonorable man and does not deserve to serve the people of this state.
NO everybody else hasn’t gotten over it. Why not go after those that steal the big bucks first. Oh, that ‘s right YOU think it’s ok because you’re probablya welfare hating GOP thief.
One of those thieves is our current secretary of the treasury. If you look into it you’ll see he benefited greatly from the AIG bailout. The thieves definitely do not respect party lines !
THE GOP DOESN’T HATE WELFARE, DUH! THEY HAD WELFARE ‘FRAUD’!
Because they’re not after Social Security which is what THIS article is ALL about.
So grab your vibrator to stop your hysteria, cease your name calling and stay on topic for a change.
In the mean time, welcome everyone ripping off welfare?
You’re a one trick pony and if you actually paid taxes you’d see things differently.
I don’t know who you are referring to, but I pay alot of taxes…
and I don’t like being ripped off by the poor, middle class or well-to-do! crook is a crook is a crook
Easy Hot Rod. I wasn’t talking to you.
Maybe if you look, it says ” Jack_Knoph 1 hour ago in reply to uncledrinky”.
amen to that schmidlap
Prove it. Stole is a pretty strong word to throw around. I imagine he must of done some heavy jail time for all that “stolen” dough eh?
Did this guy ever get charged?
How are the two cases related? They are all bad actors. Just because the State dropped the ball on one doesn’t mean they should ignore the other.
If you know for sure that he stole over a million dollars then you and 21 other people have a moral responsibility to see he pays every penny back. If you do not pursue this issue then you are guilty of allowing someone to cheat the system.
Hadn’t the Nutting issue been settled? Seriously I don’t remember what the outcome was, but I thought that he was off the hook for that one.
If people in the Very Liberal Waterville – Oakland didn’t like what Bob has done they would have voted him out of office. Instead they vote him in by landslides each time they don’t like their own party’s choice of candidates. That is saying something itself . This is the same area that elected LePage as Mayor of Waterville twice. So get over it Baldacci, DHHS and Steve Rowe (AG at that time) was satisified with the settlement Nutting made with them. Get over it find something new to complain about.
Please prepare for a sworn deposition, send copies of your evidence along with a
sworn and notarized statement to:
Office of the Attorney General
6 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
For Additional Fraud, Attempted or Suspected,
Contact the Office of the Attorney General
Phone: 207-626-8800
http://www.maine.gov/ag/contac…
Thank you for your involvement in our legal process.
If there were enough evidence to support any type of criminal and/or civil activity, then I am sure that it would have been pursued by the Baldacci administration. Since there evidently was not then give it a rest. Every time there is anything about welfare fraud, this always comes up. Here’s the difference; these cases have evidence of fraud worth pursuing whereas the Baldacci administration did not in the Nutting case.
However, if you have any evidence then why don’t you file a civil suit? I understand if you do not wish to do this as it will require actual work.
Once you start spam posting about all of the Democrat tax cheats out there maybe we will start taking the Republican ones seriously.
Clean up your own house before you start crying about the dust in ours.
Oh, it was just a “pricing error”…
no kidding…that girl’s been on welfare since she was 18….this is someone who is literally no use to society
Could someone please call Emily Cain and let her know that there are (2) more “isolated” instances of fraud/abuse of her beloved welfare?
Of course on the other hand she has secured (2) more votes.
isolated? ha!
You’re right, this can’t be true…the liberals said so themselves.
Keep moving along folks, nothing to see here. Right liberals?
Haha! That’s exactly what I thought when I read this. I wish all those people that say that welfare fraud is very little in Maine could be a fly on the wall in some of these “welfare towns”. This using their child’s social security number thing happens ALL the time. Maine needs a whistleblower hotline from welfare fraud.
Like these people do not use thier kids Social Sercurity numbers all the time to hook up Phone, cable,electricity etc. It dose not seem like it would be hard to check. Guess most they do not care then the kids credit is ruined
Thats the nice departing gift they can give their children when they grow up and leave the nest , BAD CREDIT ! Poor excuses for parents. CHILDREN HAVING CHILDREN !
I didn’t even think it was possible to use a minors SS#. I thought when the credit was ran the person running the check could see how old the owner of the SS# is. Guess I was wrong.
Phone company , electric and cable do not check. My son has bills from his mom lol
Sorry to hear. Hopefully others don’t try this after reading this article.
I dont understand either. My wife recently got her SSN and in an attempt to build up credit applied for a secured VISA card. The application was denied due to a lack of credit history. How does a the SSN of a 7 year old get enough credit history on it to allow for the qualification of a car a loan?
Wow, good thing they havent met a girl called Journey….
BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!
Aren’t employers suppose to check SSNs or at least take a copy of the person’s card?
Ho can they be on welfare for 7 years?
very easily. the 5 yr limit passed by the legislature last yr doesn’t become effective until June 1, ’12.
“If convicted, each faces up to five years in prison …”
Do we HAVE to house and feed them? Can’t we just kick them out onto the streets?
Why? If they go back to the streets they will find assistance programs somewhere else…
then they would find their way back to DHHS and the cycle starts again.
Today. There were several cases in the paper last week. Like rats, if you see 1, there are 100 you don’t see.
I worked 41 years for the same company and all I have now is my Social Security and a $160 a month pension to live on! I have no sympathy for these people and would recommend a public hanging for both!!!!!!!!
Lol Your an Ol’ Softy aren’t ya Poops
It’s bad enough the Government robs us blind, we don’t need our neighbors doing it to!
So how many would you consider would indicate a problem?
(I am thankful there is something being done. Give the “Penguin administration” enough time perhaps they will appease your sense of outrage that people are taking advantage of the system and you.)
My step-daughter and her boyfriend have been doing this very thing for years. I’ve called DHHS and they say they’ll look into it. Yeah right. Their son has the phone, cable, internet and a couple credit cards in his name. Not bad for a kid that’s 3 years old. Hopefully they’ll get caught.
Right now they’re trying to get disability for the kid so neither of them have to work. She has admitted that she has put toothpicks in his ear to cause damage so he will be hearing impaired.
Sounds criminal to me. Perhaps you should gather what information /proof you have of this and bring it directly to the D.A. Harming a child so they won’t have to get off their arse? That truly sickens me beyond words.
I’ve called and I’ve been told the same thing over and over again. I was told to call DHHS.
The fraudsters think it’s just fine. Honest people Don’t!
Save the funds for those that Truly need it.
Public Service Announcement
Report 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
For Additional Fraud, Attempted or Suspected,
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!
Give their names to the Bangor Daily News. They will force the government to take action now.
It does me too but unfortunately there are parents like that out there.
I’m not sure I believe this story, but if it’s true, you need to be calling child protective services PRONTO. Ask to talk to someone high up. Keep calling until you get someone to help this child. This is just sick.
I’ve called better than a hundred times and they keep telling me that they will look into it. Noone ever goes over there to look on things.
I don’t mean to sound skeptical, but I find it difficult to comprehend how both DHHS and the police would both turn a blind eye/ear to potential harm to a child. If you do, indeed, have some proof I would shout it from the roof tops. I would picket in front of DHHS to get attention to the situation. I would get the attention of some investigative reporter. There must be some child advocacy group who has the resources and pull to investigate this thoroughly. Not to be melodramatic, but I don’t think it’s too much a stretch to suggest this is the type of thing that leads to situations like the Ayla Reynolds case.
I suggest writing a letter to Commissioner Mayhew, Gov LePage and Susan Collins’ office.
OMG have you informed DHHS of this (toothpicks in the ear?). If you have I can’t imagine why they didn’t address it immediately. They need to get that child OUT OF THAT HOUSE!! If you suspect that she is still tormenting this child and DHHS won’t help, then for god’s sake call the police! If they suspect that that poor baby is being tortured as you say he is they can light a fire under DHHS and get them there ASAP.
This is a troll. BDN has your email address. Careful what you post.
Bingo. Sounded maybe even believable until he/she stated that they had called over a hundred times. Then the “story” went right down the drain.
I’ve called a couple times a week since I found out about what was going on, so hundreds of times is a decent estimate.
I’ve been called alot of things, but never a troll.
How do you know that jimbob.
Just curious.
Please call and make a child protective complaint about this. Thankfully the child has you in his life to watch out for him!
Tell em about how they home circumcised him with a weedeater. That ought to get their attention!!!!
This is exactly the cesspool that DHHS “lost” $220 million has been eeking out of…….keep up the good work investigators!
Hang em…….teach others the lesson that if U get caught you’re going to jail & you won’t collect $200 ever again. (or more)
The most frequent argument against investigating welfare fraud was “It barely ever happens.” Now that we are looking, we’re finding cases daily.
Now if we could actually start looking for voter fraud.
I was just going to say the same thing!! Amazing how these things turn up when someone starts looking! I hope they make them pay back every dime of OUR money that they took!
These are the ones people get angry about. This is what they got caught doing. Think of what they’ve got away with through the years in addition. Food stamps, heating assistance, and probably huge tax refunds. Stealing from your neighbors-scum!
I hear you. I was blown away last year about this related couple Goldman-Sachs who ripped off the taxpayers for somewhere around $200,000,000,000.00
see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hVpj4KkVZ8
Still waiting for the BDN to run the Goldman Sachs story under their chump change blog.
for more about how taxpayer funded FBI agents fix cases for Goldman Sachs see
Above the Law
Secret Deals, Political Fixes and Other Misadventures of the U.S. Department of Justice
http://epic.org/epic/board/burnham/book.html
“This book tells us that far too often the Justice Department
represents not the people, but the politicians, corporations and other
entrenched private interests. In Above the Law, David Burnham once again shows us why his investigative reporting is a national asset.”
— Seymour M. Hersh, Pulitzer Price winning investigative journalist
Tip of the iceberg.
There was 14 for the month of Jan 2012.
They always leave out the juiciest parts of these stories. How did they catch these people? That’s the stuff I want to know.
Attach their assets, attach any income they might have, BUT…. for goodness sake don’t put them in jail on the tax payers tab.
I evicted a sec 8 tenant, Bangor Hydro bills kept coming in kids name, guess 2 year olds don’t know how to have it shut off…
E-verify! E-verify! In this case it would have told the mans employer that he was using a SS number that wasnt in his name. And the bank? How did that SSN of a 7 year old kid ever pass a credit check?
Jeeesh can’t you read just a little bit? Try this Bangorian, see up towards the top in that little square box where it says “search this site”? Type “welfare fraud” or “Welfare abuse” and hit the Big box that says SEARCH with your pointy thingy.. You still with me??? Now on the left…… ….
(There, that oughta keep him quiet for a few hours!)
“it could not be determined from court documents if Bartlett and Judd knew
each other or worked on the scheme together or separately. Both were
arrested Tuesday and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Rich III
in back-to-back hearings in federal court in Portland. ”
Duh…Their facebook relationship status says it all. LOL
Free money, thanks Obama
perfect example of what LaPage needs to clean house! Get them off the dole!
LISTEN UP, LIBS; THESE ARE THE PROPLE THE GOVERNOR IS AFTER. NOT THE CHILDREN, ‘TRULY’ DISABLED AND ELDERLY. GOOD JOB LePAGE!
LISTEN UP, LIBS — THESE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT THE GOVERNOR IS AFTER; NOT THE CHILDREN, THE ‘TRULY’ DISABLED OR THE ELDERLY.
Anyone caught attempting to “game the system” should lose all local, State and Federal benefits, if they are caught a second time, they should lose the ability to apply for any benefits EVER.
Someone needs to put a law in place that states “If you are ever convicted of any sort of welfare fraud you are forever ineligible for any sort of welfare assistance in the future”.
Wouldn’t that make sure we don’t see many repeats of these sorts of crimes?
I like your idea…that would be a good start. “You Abuse- You Lose!”
harddaysnight, welfare fraud, nope not in maine. I used to work at DHHS, and believe me that is all you hear, no there isn’t any fraud here. LOL
It’s about time they catch these dead beats. They need to also look into these parents using their kids social security numbers for utilities. Many of these parents put the utility bills in their kids name under their social security number. Then when they skip town the utility company is stuck.
Maybe it is time to verify all these people on welfare to see if they really deserve the assistance. Yes it would be labor intensive but in the end maybe they could get rid of some of the waste and fraud and have a clean slate.
Hey viper13. These people are taking advantage of “lib” policies, but the “cons” count on these folks come election time.
I applaud the investigators in the case and hope they continue to catch those who choose to cheat us all. I wish that as a state and country we would also show the same resolve for medicaid and medicare fraud.
The amounts of money the state and fed get bilked out of by crooked doctors makes this welfare fraud look like pennies. There are quite a few doctors performing unnecessary procedures on seniors so they can charge the government more money. Instead of 23,000 over a year or two its 23,000 for a single day in some cases.
If you think I am off base with this I suggest spending time around a senior center or rehab center. Further I would look up the amount we spend in tax in money in welfare compared to health care.