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Kokua Line
Question: I recently read an article about the state having "zero tolerance" for people committing welfare fraud. I personally know of a woman who committed welfare fraud for 13-14 years, yet when I tried to initiate a complaint by calling the welfare fraud hotline, I was told the case was too old and they wouldn't be able to investigate. The guy told me that there was a two-year statute of limitations from when they know of the fraud, plus they purged all the documents in the 1980s. State can’t pursue
old welfare fraudI said this woman now has a lawsuit against the state, trying to get more money, and he said maybe the attorney general's office might want to know about it. Two days later, he called back and said it's up to the attorney general to pursue that, that that was separate from them and they had too many caseloads anyway.
Shouldn't they at least investigate this woman, especially since she's still trying to take advantage of the state again? It's our tax money.
Answer: The state Department of Human Services investigates welfare fraud and other crimes relating to programs administered by the department.
Without referring specifically to your complaint, director Susan Chandler explained the usual process of investigating complaints.
But she said she is concerned that there might have been a "misunderstanding regarding what was said" and wants to clear up any problems. If you wish to pursue your complaint, contact Lynne Calvet, the acting chief investigator, at 586-7177.
In general, however, Chandler said the department "can prosecute a fraudulent act within three years of our becoming aware of the act, but not against fraudulent acts that are more than nine years old."
If, after an investigation, the department finds a case should be prosecuted, it refers it to the state attorney general, county prosecutor or U.S. attorney general's office, she said.
It's correct that "when DHS updated its central computerized case management system in 1988, records that were closed for five years with no outstanding issues were destroyed," Chandler said. This was consistent with the department's procedures, which allows case records to be destroyed four years after the date of last change or final settlement payment, provided there are no outstanding issues.
If any member of the public suspects welfare fraud, they should call the fraud hotline, 587-8444, identifying the suspect, witnesses and any other details, she said.
Auwe
On the first and third Mondays of the month, the city comes to pick up yard trash on Halawa Heights. I saw them come early one Monday, but they just looked at the trash and drove off. I called the refuse yard in Pearl City and they said maybe they don't take mango trash. After checking, they said it was no problem as long as the bag wasn't too big or too heavy, which it wasn't. They told me to just leave it out, but I didn't want to leave it for two more weeks because of bugs and the smell, so I disposed of it another way. But I cannot understand why they just drove by. - Betty D.(If the crew "made an error" and, for whatever reason, failed to pick up your trash on the scheduled date, they are expected to pick it up as soon as possible after that, said city refuse collection administrator Dave Shiraishi. He said that's probably what the person meant by telling you to "just leave it out.")
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