Missouri Department of Social Services eligibility specialist Pamela O’Dell faces criminal charges after she went on a shopping spree with $52,000 worth of food stamps she stole, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.
O’Dell was responsible for processing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program applications and files and used her position to replace participants’ home addresses with her own government office address in Dunklin County, Mo., when participants opted out of the program. That office then issued new Electronic Benefit Transfer or EBT cards using O’Dell’s information.
O’Dell did this from 2009 to 2014. She spent the benefits at a local Walmart and a grocery store in Kansas, according to the DOJ.
A federal grand jury in Cape Girardeau, Mo., indicted her on one felony count of mail fraud. O’Dell, if convicted, faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and fines up to $250,000.
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