Woman Gets 2 Years for Welfare Fraud

An Anaheim woman has been sentenced to two years in state prison for committing welfare fraud, collecting more than $18,000 in aid to supplement her income as a cement mason and a sandwich shop owner, authorities announced Monday.

Gloria Maria Rivera, also known as Gloria Maria Navarro, 36, began taking Aid to Families with Dependent Children and food stamps for her six children in the mid-1980s and continued to receive the aid until 1995, according to Jo Marie Escobar, senior deputy district attorney.

Although she denied every month that she had other income, in May 1991 Rivera was earning $12.98 an hour as a cement mason, Escobar said. Soon after she began working, however, she was injured and began receiving worker’s compensation benefits, Escobar said. She did not report these earnings to welfare officials, Escobar said.

In April, 1994, Rivera opened a sandwich shop and ran the business for 10 months without notifying welfare officials or the worker’s compensation office, the prosecutor said.

Following a four-day trial in June, an Orange County Superior Court jury convicted Rivera of welfare fraud. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on other counts involving allegations of fraud for taking worker’s compensation funds, Escobar said.

As part of the sentence, Rivera was ordered to pay $18,067.