2 County Employees Suspected in Fraud

Two Los Angeles County employees were arrested earlier this week on grand theft and perjury charges for concocting what was described as a fraudulent child-care arrangement that allowed one of them to collect about $2,000 in earnings and benefits from a nonprofit child-care agency, according to county documents.

The women, Germaine Clark, 34, and Wendy Griffin, 41, both worked for the county’s Department of Public and Social Services; Clark holds a position as an eligibility worker and Griffin is a clerk.

According to the documents, an investigation by the department’s internal affairs division discovered that, although the Los Angeles - based Crystal Stairs child-care agency was paying Clark to care for Grif- fin’s child daily starting at 2 p.m., “Clark never left her office until 5.”

Javier LaFianza, Crystal Stairs’ chief operating officer, said his agency helps low-income parents in their transition from welfare to the workforce by assisting with child-care costs. LaFianza said that Crystal Stairs contracts with about 6,000 child-care providers in Los Angeles, and that cases of fraud are unusual.

“We have a lot of systems in place to stop this kind of thing from happening,” he said.

Clients of the agency are required to submit documents verifying their incomes and employment, and child-care providers must provide address verification and a Social Security card, and read and sign a copy of Crystal Stairs’ fraud policy, LaFianza said.

Both women were arrested at a county office on Tuesday, and each was booked on one count of grand theft of personal property and five counts of perjury, according to Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.