Burlington County seeks permission to investigate fraudulent Hurricane Irene claims

Concerned that a disaster assistance program should get to the families and individuals who need it most and are entitled, Burlington County Freeholders have adopted a resolution calling on the President and his administration to provide county officials with the tools they need to root out fraudulent claims.

Known as D-SNAP, an acronym for Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, the program is intended to provide groceries to those who suffered property damage from Hurricane Irene. The program drew 3,193 applications through the Burlington County Board of Social Services, which discerned that roughly half of them were suspect, if not fraudulent.

However, Social Services does not have the authority under D-SNAP to investigate and validate the applications.

“I was astounded to learn we were not even allowed to investigate these seemingly fraudulent claims,” Freeholder Chris Brown said. “This is the folks in Washington, the Obama Administration, failing to provide oversight for federal tax dollars.”

The freeholder resolution sponsored by Brown calls on the “President to institute regulatory safeguards to protect against fraudulent claims, including requiring application to provide evidence of actual damage and loss attributable to Hurricane Irene.”

The most recent calculations by Social Services indicate more than $1.3 million in D-SNAP funds have been expended in Burlington County alone. Brown noted that other counties have incurred similar issues with the program.

While most of the applications have already been processed pursuant to federal mandate, Brown said the federal government still needs to investigate the program for fraud. Copies of his resolution, which was adopted unanimously, will be forwarded to the President and members of the Congressional delegation representing Burlington County.

“There have been families that have been genuinely crippled by the storm, and the integrity of the program has to be somehow addressed to ensure that these are the people getting the assistance,” Brown said.