Earthquake: The Long Road Back : Those Who Wait for Food Stamps Find Long Lines but Less Chaos

Because of the food stamp cheats, Barbara Brown could not replace the baby food she lost during the earthquake, could not pay her rent and had to wait all morning Monday in a half-mile-long line--for the third time in a week.

Last week, thousands of people who suffered losses in the quake were granted emergency food vouchers the day they applied. But because of suspicions that many of the applications were fraudulent, a 72-hour waiting period was instituted to give county workers time to verify claims.

“Now, because of the rip-off artists, people like me have to suffer,” said Brown, a mother of two, as she waited in line at a Dodger Stadium parking lot. “If they had checked people out right from the beginning, instead of waiting, we would have had our food by now.”

County officials say they are now vigorously pursuing food stamp cheats, and one suspect was arraigned Monday in federal court. Four others are scheduled to be arraigned today.

More than 3,000 people waited in line Monday at Dodger Stadium, one of four large processing centers county officials opened in the hopes of avoiding the mass confusion of last week. There were extremely long lines last week at the 29 county welfare offices, and numerous tales of abuse surfaced as about 50,000 people applied for the emergency food vouchers.

This week, county officials tried to rectify the situation by establishing centralized application centers and steering applicants away from some of the overburdened county welfare offices. And by verifying claims, officials hoped to keep the cheats away.

Although people still waited in long lines Monday at Dodger Stadium and other sites, the processing program had fewer hitches than last week. The lines at the large centers moved quicker, there were more employees to handle the paperwork, and there was a large police presence to keep order.

But there are still glitches that need to be addressed, said Lew Hollman, an attorney for San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services. The elderly and disabled are forced to wait in long lines in the hot sun, and the county has made no special provisions for them. And, he said, none of those who filled out the food stamp forms were given any paperwork to verify that they had applied.

“This could lead to major problems,” Hollman said. “If 1,000 applications are lost, what happens to those people? Does that mean they’ve lost the chance to obtain any food stamps?”

Many people in line Monday were frustrated because they had waited in line last week, they were waiting again this week and, after filling out their applications, must wait three more days for their vouchers.

Within 72 hours of making a claim, applicants will be notified by mail that they can pick up their vouchers, which are provided through a U.S. Department of Agriculture program that is being managed by Los Angeles County.

Outside a Panorama City welfare office, more than 1,500 earthquake victims--many without food or a place to sleep--applied for food stamps. County employees used bullhorns to notify the crowd in Spanish, English and Armenian that there is now a waiting period.

Most of the people in line thought the waiting period would only hurt those who were in need. The scammers, they said, had gotten their food stamps last week.

“Everyone who was doing wrong got what they wanted, and now the ones who are honest and really need it have to wait for three days,” said Lydia Sanchez of North Hollywood.

Sanchez waited in line last Tuesday with her four children without obtaining any vouchers. She and her children are living on food donated by local churches.

Maurice Carter, who applied for food stamps for the first time on Monday, is living in a friend’s motor home. His Van Nuys apartment was condemned after the earthquake and he lost his job as a customer service worker when his work site was heavily damaged. He blamed government officials for failing to prevent the fraud last week.

“Isn’t that what computers are for?” Carter said. “It seems to me that the government ought to be able to check people pretty quickly.”

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Officials are now taking a number of precautions to prevent fraud. Every application will be cross-checked by the county’s central computer system, said Mike Collins, a division chief for the county Department of Public Social Services. If people try to apply for the emergency food vouchers a second time or if they claim more dependents than the last time they applied for county benefits, their cases will be referred to fraud investigators.

Barbara Brown waited four hours last week outside a Los Angeles welfare office until she finally gave up because the line was moving so slowly. She returned the next day at 5:30 a.m. and waited another few hours. When Brown finally met with a county worker, she was given an appointment to return Monday. But when she arrived at the welfare office, she was told to line up at Dodger Stadium.

“I’ve had to spend all my money replacing food I lost during the earthquake and feeding my kids,” Brown said. “I know some other people in that line last week didn’t lose a damn thing. They just heard there was free money at the welfare office, so they just lined up with their hands out. Now the rest of us have to pay the price.”