Real World

This crap happens everyday. I manage subsidized units, 25 of them, and fraud, or manipulation of benefits, is the norm. Here's a woman who's living on my dime, and she's driving an ML350 Benz. Ha! Where do I sign up?






Published: February 15, 2007 12:00 am

After pleading guilty to welfare fraud, woman now faces larceny charges

By Jim Patten , Staff Writer
Eagle-Tribune


METHUEN - She was convicted of stealing $117,555 in welfare benefits from the state last year but was allowed to keep her 2005 Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle.

Police said it was the same luxury vehicle Jennifer Stevanovich and two friends used recently to heist some $8,000 worth of merchandise from the Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester, N.H., and the Mall at Rockingham Park in Salem, N.H.

They were caught by employees of Big Lots in Methuen later that day trying to lift another $230 from the store before fleeing, leaving the Mercedes and stolen stuff behind, police said.

Court officials yesterday ordered Stevanovich, 32, formerly of Andover and now of Lawrence, to remain jailed while officials determine whether she violated her probation for a 2005 conviction on two counts of larceny.

In 2005, the mother of three was caught at her subsidized apartment in Andover with $75,000 to $100,000 worth of lingerie stolen from area Victoria's Secret stores which she was pawning on an online auction site. In her driveway was a 2005 Mercedes-Benz ML350 - the same car Methuen police said she used on her alleged December stealing spree.

Massachusetts authorities went after Stevanovich for welfare fraud, saying she pocketed some $117,000 in benefits. She pleaded guilty and in November 2006, a Salem Superior Court judge ordered her to make restitution - $100 a month and she would be allowed to keep her Mercedes-Benz until the lease was up.

As a result of the Big Lots incident in December, Stevanovich was summonsed into court yesterday on charges of larceny over $250 and larceny under $250, Lawrence District Court Clerk Magistrate Keith McDonough said.

Stevanovich told police she had allowed three of her friends to use her car to run errands after they dropped her off at her job in Burlington about 9 a.m. on Dec. 22.

She told police they picked her up in Burlington about 2 p.m. and after dropping someone off in Lawrence, went to the Big Lots store, where she said she was looking for a 50-inch television that was on sale.

She told police she did not know the other two women were going to steal from the Big Lots store or that they would use her Mercedes-Benz SUV to drive to New Hampshire and steal clothing from stores at the two malls.

Methuen Officer Stephen Hatem investigated the case with assistance from Lawrence Detective Brian Burokas.

http://www.eagletribune.com/punews/l...tory_046120307


Well, what a surprise, this piece of trash has three kids. She was originally arrested in May, before being caught this time. I guess before she leased her Benz, she had bought a Range Rover. Talk about trash. Yup, we need more low income, subsifized housing in this state.

Lingerie thief pleads guilty

Ran lucrative shoplifting ring

By Julie Manganis
THE SALEM NEWS (SALEM, Mass.)

SALEM, Mass. — To the Department of Transitional Assistance’s Lawrence office, Jennifer Stevanovich was a struggling single mom trying to raise three children on just a few thousand dollars a year.

...........

Her lawyer, Allison Bloomquist, said Stevanovich is worried that wearing the ankle bracelet will cost her some clients at Supercuts in Burlington where she works as a hairdresser. She fears that some customers with pacemakers might stop visiting out of concern that the bracelet’s signals will interfere with the medical device — a suggestion the judge rejected.


http://reporter.net/cnhi/reporter/fe...secondarystory

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

Patters

Well, I hope this kind of fraud isn't the norm. From what I've known about people on welfare, they are too unambitious to commit fraud or are mostly honest and hope to get off welfare.

Real World

You've heard terribley wrong my friend. It is the complete opposite. Sorry to ruin your day. People on welfare don't get off, they pass it on down like inheritance. Ever heard of generational welfare? Most of my tenants have 50" HDTV's. It's quite sad really.

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

Pujo

Speaking as someone who's family had to collect welfare for a short time (after my father passed away 5 years after we came to America with nothing), and who knew many other Russian immigrants bad situations, I know that's utter bullcrap. I'm sure there are lots of people like that on welfare, but your implication that most of them, or all of them, are like that is a complete fabrication. There are bad people who milk the system, and there are hardworking people who fall on hard times.

maverick4

I know there are honest, hardworking people out there who sometimes need help, but giving people lots of free money they did not earn over long periods of time is immoral, in my opinion. It is a necessary evil, but it's stories like this that drive me up the wall.

wistahpatsfan

I agree completely. There are families who are on their fifth generation of welfare and have no hope of getting out. It's destroying families and wasting human lives. It also adds to the cycle of single-parent teenage women "households" where jobless boys (who pretend they're men) drift in and out. The children use this as a model and become it themselves. No good can come from this type of welfare. Welfare was meant to be a temporary safety net, not a way of life.

DarrylS

Unfortunately, many of them have it because of preditory lenders and places that allow you to rent to own(Aaron's), you never really own it, just keep paying on it until you die. Did you ever see an Aaron's in a middle class neighborhood?? Every Aaron I have seen is on the fringes of poor communities or neighborhoods.. So who makes out, not the poor folks, but the lenders with their high rates. The same is true for many of the vets coming back from Iraq, if there was a true concern for these folks then there would be something done about the lending practices.

As far as the handing down of welfare from generation to generation, there is an effort to stop this as there are now 5 year limits on receiving cash benefits, this was initiated during the Clinton years.

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Patters

Well, I've only known a few people on welfare, and this was at least 10 years ago: (1) a mom whose husband left her, and she went on welfare for a few months while she figured out how to take care of her child and work. (2) a Vietnam vet who hosted the creepiest party I've ever been to, in the Southie projects. I think he was too messed up to land a job. (3) an alcoholic and drug-addicted actress who was on welfare for a few years, before finally landing a job, putting on 100 pounds, and going on disability! (4) A neighbor who had to quit his job (teaching music at a private school) in order to become eligible for Medicare, after he was severely injured in a hit and run accident. I don't deny there's some generational welfare, but the system is probably too cheap to support them and help them off welfare at the same time, and if they have kids, there's no good choice without raising social welfare spending.

Real World

First off, it's not "bullcrap". I don't lie, as I have no need to. I do agree that there are people who do fall on hard times, do need it, and do aim to move off it. However, those are few and far between. I've had one tenant in the last 8 years move to independance. That's 1 out of 25 units. I've got tenants who've been on welfare for well over a decade, with zero intention of ever getting off. I've got mother and daughter living side by side. I was baited and switched just last year by a generational welfare family, and sadly, through personal experience, think that the system is at least 50% waste. Remember, I have no problems with a system to help those in need. I have no problem in having a portion of my income going to a program such as welfare. Where I have a problem, is with the gross mismanagement, size, and waste that welfare has become. I could tell you individual stories of how awful the system is, or how disgustingly the state gives away your hard earned tax dollars. Does that mean that all or most of my tenants are undeserving, or don't need assistance? Not at all. It simply means that there is massive abuse, and gross negligence involved.

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

Real World

Wistah, I see it all the time. I was baited and switched by a generational welfare scheme just last year. Mom on welfare, 18 year old daughter gets pregnant. Daughter living with father, moves in with mom, they now require a 2 bedroom, not a 1, and so they find one, move in together, and then guess what? Daughter was pregnant at move in, no one knows, so she gives birth, now the 2 bedroom is too small, so the mom files a request for her own 1 bedroom, and the 18 year old single mom keeps the two. You and I pay. Everyday the "daddy" seems to be there. Does he live there? They say no, I think yes, but how do I prove it? They won't say he lives there cuz then they have to add him to the lease, and I have to configure his income against the rent. Now, ask yourself, what do you think will happen with her kids when they hit 18?

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897