39 People Charged in Welfare Fraud Ring : Crime: District attorney says doctor and ringleader helped nearly 100 people file fake claims, grossing $300,000 since 1989.

Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner filed criminal charges Thursday against 39 people, including a doctor and the alleged ringleader in a welfare fraud ring that grossed $300,000 since August, 1989.

The alleged leader, Myron Larkin, was charged with 28 counts of welfare fraud for helping file bogus claims for about 97 people, Reiner told a news conference.

Larkin, 47, a resident of Woodland Hills, was being held on $250,000 bail and was scheduled to be arraigned today.

“This man was in the business of selling welfare fraud schemes,” Reiner said.

In August, 1989, the district attorney’s office began investigating a home that Larkin owns at 1423 3rd Ave. after the Department of Social Services noticed an unusual number of welfare checks being sent to the address.

The investigation revealed a welfare fraud ring that grossed about $300,000 since its inception, Reiner said.

Larkin allegedly helped claimants obtain fraudulent birth certificates and California identification cards.

They were sent to George Demos, a clinical psychologist from Long Beach, who would find that they suffered from schizophrenia or other mental illnesses so they could apply for general relief or federal Supplemental Security Income, Reiner said.

Larkin attended social services hearings with the claimants.

“He would tell them to not shower and to be dirty for the hearing,” Reiner said. “He would also tell them not to look at the interviewer and to rock back and forth.”

Larkin would speak on behalf of the applicants, case workers simply stamped the necessary paperwork and “the money would start rolling in,” he said.

During the heyday of Larkin’s operation, investigators videotaped dozens of men and women driving up to the 3rd Street address to retrieve their welfare checks. A mailman was videotaped stuffing dozens of envelopes into a small mailbox at the house.

“What is remarkable is how brazen the operation is,” Reiner said as he played the tape. “The people arrive casually each month. They’re not skulking around corners or hiding their faces.”

Claimants, who received either $312 in state welfare or $660 in federal relief checks, endorsed them to Larkin before receiving their payoff. Larkin skimmed about $100 from each check, the district attorney said.

More than 100 people used the 3rd Street location as a mail drop until the arrests, Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Cabral said.

Among the claimants was a woman who had 13 separate aliases from four different states, Reiner said.

When Reiner went to the Social Security Administration to have the checks audited, the office refused to divulge any information, saying it would constitute an invasion of privacy, Reiner said.

He did not know if welfare checks were still being sent to the house.

Demos’ bail was set at $100,000. An arrest warrant was issued for Larkin’s wife, who also was to be charged in the scheme.

If convicted of all the charges, Larkin and the other defendants could face up to nine years in state prison.