LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Clarksville, Indiana woman will spend 18 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to stealing federal benefits.
Court records revealed 42-year-old Willie Watts received benefits from four different federal programs intended to benefit eligible people in need – Section 8, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP), Social Security Survivors benefits and Medicaid – from 2014 to 2021.
Investigators laid out several examples in which Watts lied to receive benefits including saying one or more of her children were living with her when they lived with other family members.
Every year, investigators said Watts would recertify this false information and receive benefits from the programs she was not entitled to receive.
From February 2015 through September 2019, Watts received social security benefits intended for her two children following the deaths of their fathers. In this case, Watts lied saying the children lived with her and used the money for her own purposes and didn’t provide the children with any of it.
Investigators also said she lied about her income and assets including owning a home in Jeffersonville or disclosing she was receiving rental income from tenants who lived there. She received $125,753.90 in federal benefits. They add had Watts given accurate information to the government programs, she would have had her benefits or reduced or eliminated.
It’s not the first time Watts has been caught cheating the system.
In 2016, Watts was charged in Kentucky with felonies for stealing more than $30,000 from SNAP and Medicaid. In that incident, she also lied about her children living with her when they did not. She was convicted in 2018 and received three years in prison which was later suspended to probation.
“Watts continued her Indiana scheme throughout her prosecution and sentencing,” the court documents read.
In addition to the 18-month sentence Watts received, she will also have three years of supervised release.
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