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Wife Of DC Lawyer Worth $1.5 Million Arrested For Taking Food Stamps, Welfare

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An Arlington, Va., woman allegedly falsified welfare applications to receive more than $100,000 in benefits while her husband raked in $1.5 million salary.

Police say Helen Agbapuruonwu, mother of four, collected food stamps and Medicaid benefits from 2010 to 2016, while here husband, Fidelis Agbapuruonwu, was earning $1.5 million as a lawyer in Washington, D.C., NBC News 4 reports.

Helen Agbapuruonwu “fraudulently obtained public assistance in excess of $100,000 under false pretenses” police allege, and she has been charged “with felony welfare fraud and document forgery,” according to a police report.

Fidelis Agbapuruonwu, who immigrated to the U.S. from Nigeria in the 1990s, worked as an associate at Mayer Brown in D.C., according to his LinkedIn profile. A spokesman for Mayer Brown told NBC 4 that Agbapuruonwu no longer works there. Agbapuruonwu received a Paul & Daisy Soros Scholarship for New Americans, which he used to pay for law school at Ohio State University.

Court officials believe that Agbapuruonwu may have “fled the country and is somewhere in Africa,” NBC News reports.

“We hope it sends a message that if you are taking public assistance it’s truly intended for those in need, and we’re committed to ensuring those who need the most help receive it,” Ashley Savage, spokeswoman for the Arlington County Police, told NBC News.

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