3 Face Imprisonment for Welfare Fraud

Three women who have been convicted and sentenced for welfare fraud in Ventura County are scheduled to start their sentences by the end of this month or in mid-March.

Trudy Mays, 33, formerly of Thousand Oaks, was sentenced in January to 16 months in prison for attempted grand theft, a charge resulting from a false application for welfare.

Mays had sought payments from Aid to Families with Dependent Children for herself and five children, claiming that the father of the children was not living with them, said John Mayernik, an investigator for the Ventura County Public Social Services Agency. His investigation showed she was living with her children and their father. Since she had two prior felony and four previous misdemeanor convictions, Mays was given the 16-month sentence.

On Dec. 29, Margaret Dahl, 36, formerly of Ojai, was sentenced to 30 days in county jail and three years of probation. She also was ordered to pay restitution of $8,963 for Aid to Families with Dependent Children overpayments and $623 for food stamp overpayment.

Dahl had reported that her three sons were living with her but they were residing in Virginia, said Tom Finn, another agency investigator. Dahl also received about $20,000 in income, injury settlement and benefits that she did not report to the Public Social Services Agency, Finn said.

Alicia Castro Flores, 35, of Oxnard, was convicted of welfare fraud in November and sentenced to 60 days in county jail, five years of probation and ordered to pay $30,536 in restitution.

Flores had been living with the father of her five children for three years but was receiving AFDC payments based on his reported absence, said investigator Mark Felton of the Public Social Services Agency.