A now former welfare employee in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, is accused in a fraud case involving 48 EBT cards, crack cocaine, and a lot of cash.
The suspect was identified as 46-year-old Sheila McDonald who worked with the Leigh County Assistance Office as a clerical supervisor and EBT coordinator, Fox 56 reported Tuesday.
The cards she was responsible for securing were allegedly used in approximately 270 unauthorized transactions that came to over $20,550, the outlet continued:
The investigation began in November 2025 after a recipient’s card never arrived, but investigators found that someone had made four transactions with it. Authorities allege McDonald activated that card using the recipient’s personal information. Surveillance video later showed a person identified as McDonald withdrawing cash and making purchases with the card, according to lehighdaily.com.
An unidentified man told investigators that McDonald repeatedly gave him EBT cards and their PINs in exchange for crack cocaine. He said he believed she obtained the cards through her job, authorities said.
Officials with the state’s Department of Human Services suspended the woman, removed her access to the agency’s systems, and have since issued replacement EBT cards to the persons affected, WFMZ reported Monday.
She was taken into custody and charged with several felony counts. Those charges included theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, access device fraud, criminal conspiracy to commit theft by unlawful taking or disposition, criminal conspiracy to commit theft by deception, and receiving stolen property, the outlet said.
A criminal complaint was filed October 2, but the suspect has reportedly not yet been arraigned in the case, per the Fox article.
The news came after a man accused of defrauding the United States government of $600,000 in a food stamp benefit scheme was arrested in India as part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Most Wanted Fraudsters initiative, Breitbart News reported September 7.
Days later, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins detailed the Trump administration’s efforts to end fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
She noted that spending on the program jumped 40 percent during former President Joe Biden’s (D) administration, adding accountability was nearly nonexistent.
“There was no checking of whether, you know, they were working or trying to find a job. There was no checking on their means. There was no checking on whether they’re driving Lexuses or, you know, Range Rovers, which a lot of them are,” she stated.
More recently, a restaurant operator in Massachusetts was slapped with a two-year prison sentence for a scheme that used over 100 stolen identities to collect food assistance and pandemic unemployment benefits worth more than $1.1 million, per Breitbart News.