State will pursue food stamp recipients who took advantage of glitch

[nolaboy]

Source: Fox 8 News

BATON ROUGE, La. - The state is going after food stamp recipients w­­ho took advantage of the system while it was down in October.

The Jindal administration announced Wednesday that it will strip food stamp benefits from those who deliberately overspent their balances. The state will also form a task force with local prosecutors to pursue criminal charges.

The glitch happened Oct. 12 when the electronic card system was down across 17 states, and balances couldn't be checked. Several Louisiana retailers, including Walmart stores in Mansfield and Springhill, allowed food stamp recipients to make unlimited purchases even though there wasn't enough money on their EBT cards.

When the system came back online a few hours later, people who had filled their shopping baskets abandoned their carts and left the store.

Read more: http://www.fox8live.com/story/23900335/state-will-pursue-food-stamp-receipients-who-took-advantage-of-glitch

[NYC_SKP]

1. What a pathetic little dickwad. nt

[Ed Suspicious]

2. How many millions will be spent to recover those thousands?

[Orrex]

4. It doesn't matter, because those millions will be going to the right people

Rather than people who were outrageously trying to feed their families.

[seattle15]

3. That's just not fair

[leftynyc]

29. Why not? (n/t)

[nyquil_man]

5. Are they going after the retailers, too?

No, of course not.

[Sgent]

10. To some extent

They won't reimburse any of the retailers for amounts that were "spent" during the glitch.

[nyquil_man]

11. That's a very weak extent

when you consider the billions Walmart makes from food stamps.

[SoapBox]

6. Well of course Gov. TeaTurdTerrorist would do this.

Anything to make the lives of the little people more of a hell than it is.

[Lancero]

7. Both good and bad...

Justify their actions however you want, but some people walked out with entire baskets (Yes, plural) full. And when the system came back on line, many people left baskets full out.

This isn't a case of people trying to provide for their families - This is a case of people abusing a glitch, a case of them defrauding EBT, a system put in place to help people.

Their actions put the program in a bad light -Put the people who need this program to survive, in a bad light.

Taking these people to task for their actions is necessary to restore faith in this system.

Saddest fact though is that the cost of doing so will go far beyond the costs of what they took.

I've nothing against people having to use EBT to make ends meet. I've done such in the past. But this goes far beyond making ends meet. This is a case of people having a chance to cheat, to screw over, the system and deciding to do so, only to benefit themselves, at the cost of others.

I don't like that these people had their EBT taken away, would rather it be withheld depending on their payouts, how much they took over their limit, and how much they can repay from what they took (By this, say a person gets 25 a month. They take advantage of the glitch and get 50 worth. Minus their allowance for that month, this leaves them with 25 to pay back. The person pays back 10. So next month instead of getting their full 25, 15 would be withheld to repay the balance, and they would get 10. The next month, since their balance has been repaid, they would get the full 25.)

[grilled onions]

8. It Does Put The Needy In A Bad Light

It's bad enough already with grumbling going on every time an EBT card is used. It's bad when the headlines of papers scream about the fraud of those cards and how many are milking the system. It makes those, who abide by the rules, one of the "bad" ones simply because they have an EBT card. A mother with hungry kids,a senior with few options,a disabled fellow, and those who are laid off and on on the needy keep coming but a few bad apples will be all some news stations--some hate radio will spew on a daily basis. Normally law breakers and law abiding citizens do not get lumped together but when it comes to Medicaid,EBT cards--hell even S.S. and Medicare are often subject to ridicule. The Medicare fraud rarely is done by the individual but rather as a group yet "we" are looked down upon as draining the bank accounts of the gazillionaires(who don't even need more money). Every program will have a bad apple but we should not condemn the programs because of a few who choose to take more than they are supposed to.

[Lancero]

9. And thats my point.

That people will, because of the actions of a few, condemn them all.

One way to bring those into a better light is to hold those bad few accountable for their actions.

Sadly, the condemnation of attempts to bring those bad few to task for what they have done will just cause more people to look down on those who need to program.

[nyquil_man]

12. The retailers let them do it.

That's right there in the article. "Several Louisiana retailers, including Walmart stores in Mansfield and Springhill, allowed food stamp recipients to make unlimited purchases even though there wasn't enough money on their EBT cards."

These retailers thought they'd get a tidy profit from the glitch.

The SNAP recipients should have shown better judgment, yes, but if an store says "COME GET FREE STUFF," I don't think we should be surprised when people take them at their word.

[Lancero]

13. You can lead a horse to water...

But you can't make them drink.

Although they should have suspected something, I doubt that the average walmart employee knows how much money a person gets in EBT each month.

They let them continue using the cards in good faith - Good faith in that the people would only use how much they had left on the card.

They didn't know how much they had on the cards - What they did was allow them to use the cards without being able to confirm if they had money to actually use.

Suspicious as hell, but what should they have done? Banned EBT from being used in their store?

[nyquil_man]

14. They let them continue using the cards

because they thought they'd get reimbursed for the overages.

The managers of these stores see people coming in and buying cartloads of groceries and they're not suspicious in the least that the system's being gamed? Is that your position?

[nyquil_man]

16. And don't be fatuous.

"what should they have done? Banned EBT from being used in their store?"

It's absurd to suggest that the only two options for a retailer in this situation are to either cut off EBT entirely or let cardholders buy as much as they damn well please because "they didn't know how much money they had on the cards."

The average SNAP recipient in Louisiana receives about $136 a month. It took me about five seconds to find that in a Google search and I'm sure the average Walmart manager could have done the same.

Until the problem is resolved, you tell your cashiers to limit the purchases to that amount and nothing more. It won't completely solve the problem, but it will prevent the kind of rampant shopping sprees that were seen in these stores.

That's damage control. It's what you do unless you think the damage is going to be profitable.

[JimDandy]

36. They could have limited the purchases

to $100 - an amount appropriate for 4 or 5 days worth of food for a large size family.

[meanit]

19. Yes, EBT should have banned from being used in the store

until the obvious malfunction of the system was resolved.
Not one cashier, floor manager or security person found it odd that people with EBT cards were suddenly buying hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of food? That's absolutely absurd. They knew what was going on, and they are as guilty of those who were walking out of the store with the full shopping carts.
Where's Jindal's "task force" for the prosecution of the businesses and corporations who tried to cash in on this? Yeah, right....

[Tunkamerica]

23. should've just banned all people who looked poor.

how dare those people take 2x-3x the amount of food we decide they're entitled to? they could sell that food on the black market and make up to 10's of dollars. It's a slippery slope. What if they'd gotten 2 carts full of food? How many poor people would've eaten if they'd gotten 3 carts full?

I believe that food should only go to the people who had the foresight to be born with the skills and the intelligence to be wealthy enough to afford it. Food is a commodity, not a right. This theft of property from tax payers like me should not stand.

I believe the only real recourse is to withhold calories from the offenders to make up for the calories they stole. We should pay people to make sure they don't eat for as long as it takes to make up for the stolen calories.

[meanit]

35. Excellent point

I'm sure they only took food that was fresh and good for them as well. How dare those fat freeloaders not limit themselves to mac & cheese. Raman noodles, Doritos and other crap foods! If this keeps up, people won't be able to call them fat freeloaders, just freeloaders. How will they be able to be identified?
Perhaps Jindal and Vitter should call for identifying decals to be sewn on the front of their shirts or something like that?

[warrant46]

41. Yes you are correct

They should have to sew a yellow cheese shaped embroidered symbol on their shirts.

Meanwhile the Defense Contractors and their ilk feed at the Public Trough

[Keefer]

33. That's what the local

Walmarts did here. They didn't accept EBT while the system was down.

[Myrina]

39. Wal Mart acted in 'good faith'? What are you smoking?

They were either too lazy to impose limits (as someone else suggested they could) or too greedy thinking they'd get paid by the gubmint either way.

[LanternWaste]

26. I think it merely places those who did the abuse in a bad light.

"Their actions put the program in a bad light.."

I think it merely places those who did the abuse in a bad light, much as speeders don't put speed limits in a bad light, merely themselves...

[Theyletmeeatcake2]

30. What about the shopping trolleys full of cash that were left on Wall Street?

This is bullshit and indicative of a system that tries to portray any monies going to welfare recipients as being bad.....get real and have a good sniff and you'll find Rupert the fox behind this story...he's the turd you just can't flush away..if you want to be so righteous then you go after anyone who's done something wrong..the jails will be full....Oops they already are aren't they? By the way aren't the Walmart employees on benefits of some sort because of their low wages, whilst their masters are some of the richest people in the world....if you think that's fair then I feel sorry for you. notice that no mention of how much was involved was made in this article....this is typical of the Faux news network and their methods of attacking the welfare recipients ....

[question everything]

15. Which state?

Can you please edit your post and put, in parenthesis, Louisiana in the title?

Thanks

[warrant46]

42. We know that

Sen Vitter (R) LA is the southern Diaper Man

Five years ago, Louisiana Senator David Vitter was humiliated when he was outed as a client of the infamous "DC Madam," Deborah Palfrey. Back then, reports said that not only did Vitter see prostitutes on numerous occasions, he was rumored to have a fetish for wearing diapers, like a man-baby.

[Skittles]

17. can we go after the rightwing bastards who crashed the economy?

[csziggy]

21. Yeah - AND go after the people and corporations that take advantage

Of loopholes in the tax code that let them get away with paying NO taxes whiles raking in millions and billions!

[blkmusclmachine]

18. The little people are NOT "Too Big To Fail."

Gotta fill up all those empty Corporate built Prisons somehow, dontchaknow. And the 1% is GUARANTEED **never** to see even 1 day of the inside of a jail cell, irregardless of the vastness and preconceived nature of their many sins. So...savvy.

[Sunlei]

20. state should make sure those who abused the system don't have kids who are now without food.

benefits should be suspended but there has to be some type of welfare check on innocent people.

[Myrina]

40. I'm sure there is... and the kids with no food will get yanked from their parents ...

... and into the foster system, paving their way to the low-wage job and prison system, no doubt.

[blackspade]

22. Jindal is as dispicable as always.

More of our republican driven two tiered justice system.
The rich walk and the poor disappear into the corporate prison system.

[Conium]

24. Wal~Mart should be penalized severely.

Do not allow Wal~Mart to accept food stamps anymore. They knew better. They should have limited the amount of purchases until the glitch was resolved, but no! Wal~Mart corporate headquarters told the stores to "keep the registers ringing!"

The sad part is that many of the people who took advantage have children who will now go hungry.

[closeupready]

27. Yes. Walmart was negligent.

[closeupready]

25. I'd file a lawsuit right back. Walmart approved it.

If the state wants to pursue Walmart, fine.

[Decaffeinated]

28. They should...

[Skittles]

37. of course they should

it's fraud but the problem is how accountability is applied - they "go after" the little people - corporations, not so much

[Sanity Claws]

31. WalMart took advantage of the glitch

They wanted to take advantage of the glitch because their sales are down. See http://www.salon.com/2013/09/10/walmarts_sales_dropped_what_does_that_say_about_the_economy_newscred/

Is the state pursuing them?

[leftyladyfrommo]

32. Good luck with that.

Like those food stamp people are going to be able to pay anything back. They should. They had to have known they were just stealing stuff because they could get away with it.

[former9thward]

34. It will be easy for the state to do.

They just will reduce benefits for the person until the money is recovered.

[Arkana]

38. "You bought extra food with your foodstamps! To the stocks with you!"

You can bet that it won't only be the people who abused the system that will suffer. Jindal's Gestapo will most likely hit some innocent families as well.

[Ash_F]

43. Meanwhile, on Wallstreet... /nt

[hamsterjill]

44. Exactly!

Where's the uproar over the big banks????

[booksenkatz]

45. Should have committed war crimes...

Those are not on the table, ya know.