A single mom who relied on federal meals help misplaced her advantages in 2020 after Kentucky investigators concluded she’d dedicated fraud.
The state alleged she had made a number of same-day purchases, tried to overdraw her account a number of instances, entered a number of invalid PINs and typically made “whole-dollar” purchases which are unlikely throughout typical grocery runs.
The girl from Salyersville in Appalachian Kentucky had a proof: She labored on the retailer. She would typically purchase lunch there after which get groceries after work. Her baby would additionally sometimes use her card.
An administrative listening to officer kicked her off the Supplemental Diet Help Program (SNAP) regardless, based mostly solely on the allegedly suspicious procuring sample. She sued — and received.
“It’s draconian to remove SNAP advantages from a single mom with out clear and convincing proof that intentional trafficking was occurring throughout a time when meals shortage is so prevalent,” Franklin County Choose Thomas Wingate mentioned in his 2023 determination.
A surge of disqualifications
Over the past 5 years, the Kentucky Cupboard for Well being and Household Companies has introduced a whole bunch of fraud instances which are closely reliant on transactional knowledge with the aim of revoking folks’s meals advantages.
Judges, attorneys and authorized specialists mentioned in interviews and in courtroom paperwork that such proof proves little. Kentucky Public Radio reviewed dozens of administrative listening to choices and courtroom paperwork from the final 5 years during which the cupboard relied on procuring patterns to show an individual had “trafficked,” or offered, their advantages.
Kentucky is so aggressive in disqualifying folks from SNAP advantages that the state is second within the nation for per-capita administrative disqualifications, behind Florida, based on the newest federal knowledge from 2023.
Within the final decade, disqualifications in Kentucky rose from fewer than 100 in 2015 to over 1,800 in 2023. And greater than 300 others have been accused of promoting or misusing their advantages since January 2024, based on information obtained by Kentucky Public Radio.
One other Franklin County decide in 2023 ordered the cupboard to cease disqualifying people based mostly solely on transactional knowledge, however for the reason that determination, no less than three lawsuits allege the well being company continues to carry such instances.
Transactional knowledge alone can’t show intent to commit fraud nor present the precise results of any particular person transaction, College of Kentucky legislation professor Cory Dodds mentioned, including, “I’m not saying that folk didn’t do it, didn’t commit the fraud, however I don’t suppose the cupboard in plenty of these instances has met their burden of proof, both.”
Dealing with punishment, recipients are pressured to waive their hearings
Kentuckians obtain discover of their alleged suspicious exercise by mailed letters, during which they’re requested to voluntarily waive their proper to a listening to and robotically settle for the punishment. On first offense, that’s typically a one-year SNAP ban. They’re additionally required to repay the total quantity the state says they misused.
Usually, these instances contain a comparatively small sum of money. Information present that greater than 900 folks have been kicked off for “trafficking” or misuse for lower than $1,000 since 2022. The bottom quantity alleged was 14 cents.
The state has leaned closely on administrative listening to waivers since 2015, and by 2023, virtually 1 / 4 of all disqualifications have been by way of waiver. Some lawsuits allege people didn’t totally perceive the results of the waivers and have been inspired to signal by officers.
Kentucky Public Radio reviewed greater than two dozen instances since 2020 during which the cupboard accused a person of trafficking utilizing solely spending patterns, regardless of the contributors’ denial or lack of response — and with no different proof or interviews offered, based on administrative listening to choices.
Kendra Steele, a spokesperson for the Cupboard for Well being and Household Companies, declined to schedule an interview with cupboard officers after a number of requests. Steele mentioned in an e mail that “we have now by no means” introduced trafficking instances based mostly solely on transactional knowledge and acknowledged it could not be enough to show intent.
In response to a distinct query, Steele wrote the investigation into fraud allegations consists of wanting into earnings, dwelling conditions “and patterns of spending which are indicative of trafficking.” She didn’t point out how any of these components could possibly be used to show intentional misuse or promoting of SNAP advantages, or the way it differs from counting on transactional knowledge — which is inherently a sample of spending. Steele mentioned in one other e mail that additionally they interview distributors and SNAP recipients.
‘It’s our fellow Kentuckians who’re going hungry’
Roughly 4 in 25 Kentuckians undergo from meals insecurity, much like the nationwide price of about 14%, based on an Related Press evaluation of U.S. Census Bureau and Feeding America knowledge.
The USDA will cease gathering and releasing statistics on meals insecurity after October, saying Sept. 20 that the numbers had grow to be “overly politicized.” The choice comes within the wake of federal funding cuts for meals and diet security internet applications nationwide.
Within the final fiscal yr, 1 in 8 Kentuckians benefitted from SNAP, previously referred to as meals stamps. Meals insecurity in Kentucky’s rural areas is much more stark, and authorized illustration more durable to come back by.
“The individuals who profit from these applications are a few of the people that we have to be serving to essentially the most on this nation,” Dodds mentioned. “It’s our fellow Kentuckians who’re going hungry on account of baseless allegations of waste, fraud and abuse.”
The cupboard denied KPR’s request for case notes on particular person fraud accusations beginning in early 2024 that would come with the proof used within the accusations. However administrative listening to choices reviewed by KPR from 2020 by 2023 included proof the cupboard relied on; listening to officers would often say an individual had trafficked their advantages based mostly on procuring patterns the state deemed suspicious.
Knowledgeable say officers overrely on buy knowledge
Nationwide authorized specialists who focus on SNAP entry say an overreliance on transactional knowledge isn’t distinctive to Kentucky. Transactional knowledge was initially meant as a instrument to establish potential fraud instances — not as a method to show it, Georgetown legislation professor David Tremendous mentioned.
He’s studied SNAP disqualifications for many years, and has seen many instances the place he believes transactional knowledge is misconstrued as direct proof of wrongdoing, as a substitute of requiring a state to construct instances with witnesses, affidavits, video proof and plea offers.
In a single redacted 2023 state administrative listening to determination, a listening to officer determined a lady within the jap Kentucky metropolis of McKee had trafficked her advantages as a result of she had made eight back-to-back transactions in a yr. The choice additionally mentioned she’d checked her stability a number of instances, made a number of inadequate fund makes an attempt and had incorrectly entered her PIN quantity a number of instances.
She misplaced her SNAP advantages for a yr. In an enchantment, the lady advised the state she has two children and had lately found she was pregnant.
“Everybody forgets to get one thing and has to return within the retailer and get it,” she wrote, defending her back-to-back purchases.
She obtained one other listening to, however the consequence didn’t change.
Cupboard officers acknowledged in cross examinations throughout a 2023 case that back-to-back transactions and whole-dollar purchases aren’t forbidden underneath SNAP guidelines, nor are recipients advised that the cupboard considers them suspicious.
However all of this stuff are used as proof — typically the only proof — that an individual misused their advantages.
Kristie Goff, an AppalRed authorized assist lawyer in Prestonsburg in southeast Kentucky, used to see many of those instances, although they’ve declined within the final yr.
“There have been only a few cases in instances I’ve dealt with, the place a consumer was not in a position to give me a wonderfully affordable clarification for these transactions, and none of it was trafficking,” Goff mentioned. “There are not any receipts, there’s no video footage to indicate that somebody’s doing something fallacious. It’s only a quantity written on a paper.”
Whereas saying buying historical past is inadequate to show trafficking, Kentucky judges have stopped wanting demanding that the state change the way it trains workers or conducts its SNAP investigations.
State coaching supplies focus virtually completely on buy patterns
In response to an open information request, the cupboard supplied KPR with paperwork used to coach investigators on intentional program violations. They seem to virtually completely focus on transactional knowledge, together with investigating back-to-back funds, giant transactions and whole-dollar purchases.
In 2020, Michigan appellate judges determined transactional knowledge alone isn’t enough to show {that a} enterprise — or particular person — fraudulently used SNAP advantages.
Dodds believes that must be the usual for all states, together with Kentucky.
He’s within the early phases of systematically reviewing 1000’s of SNAP profit trafficking listening to choices between 2020 and 2023. Information from about 700 choices in 2020 alone already exhibits that many Kentuckians have been denied advantages earlier than the state presents what he considers actual proof of guilt.
“There are perhaps a handful of instances that I might say there was actual proof that that they had executed one thing fallacious,” Dodds mentioned. “There was one the place a lady was on the telephone with the listening to officer whereas she was actively attempting to promote her advantages. … However instances with non-transactional knowledge are exceedingly uncommon.”
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Related Press knowledge journalist Kasturi Pananjady contributed to this report.
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This reporting is a part of a collection referred to as Sowing Resilience, a collaboration between the Institute for Nonprofit Information’ Rural Information Community and The Related Press centered on how rural communities throughout the U.S. are navigating meals insecurity points. 9 nonprofit newsrooms have been concerned within the collection: The Beacon, Capital B, Enlace Latino NC, Examine Midwest, The Jefferson County Beacon, KOSU, Louisville Public Media, The Maine Monitor and MinnPost. The Rural Information Community is funded by Google Information Initiative and Knight Basis, amongst others.
The Related Press Well being and Science Division receives help from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Division of Science Schooling and the Robert Wooden Johnson Basis. The AP is solely chargeable for all content material.
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