21 are charged with benefits fraud

Charges have been filed against 21 people accused of fraudulently obtaining more than $2 million in benefits from a state-funded program designed to help the disabled or elderly receive in-home care, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley announced Thursday.

A growing number of fake identities are being used to scam the $1.6-billion program, called In-Home Supportive Services, which is administered by the county, Cooley said. The fraud is committed both by people posing as recipients and by those posing as providers.

At least a dozen of the 21 charged were arrested Thursday morning by investigators, Cooley said.

He called for identity checks on people receiving the benefits, including photographing, fingerprinting and criminal background checks. Cooley cited a recent civil grand jury report that said such fraud can be prevented with these measures.

In one case, a man from Granada Hills claimed that he was schizophrenic and that he needed constant care, prosecutors said. The government paid his wife through the program to take care of him, giving her $257,000 in welfare benefits, Cooley said.

But prosecutors said her husband, Paul Honvath, was rarely home because he was working as a roofer named Gino.

In another case, Mary Alvarez, 66, of Maywood used two identities so her husband, Jose I. Flores, could get paid to care for two women in their home, prosecutors allege.

During the decade that they received such benefits, Alvarez and Flores spent much of their time and money at casinos, prosecutors said.

The couple face an array of welfare fraud charges and about 10 years each in prison if convicted.

The investigation identified one phony provider who was wanted on an arrest warrant for homicide and a second who had a prior conviction for robbery, Cooley said.

“I doubt a legitimate” recipient of benefits from the program “would want either of these providers caring for them,” he said.

Cooley, who once headed the district attorney’s welfare fraud unit, said that although the grand jury advocated fingerprinting for recipients, state lawmakers have repeatedly tried to pass legislation limiting such efforts and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed the idea.

Prosecutors said some accused scammers faked injuries while enjoying able-bodied lives.

For example, they said, Kim Johnson, 40, of Lancaster claimed she needed 24-hour home care from her longtime companion and another person, convincing the county to pay them $194,000. But investigators with the district attorney’s office did not find Johnson at home.

“Kim Johnson owned a beauty salon, and investigators videotaped her driving a Cadillac Escalade down the road,” said Jim Baker, an assistant head deputy district attorney with the welfare fraud unit.

Johnson, along with James Earl Brown, 40, and Jacqueline Hervey, 45, are accused of defrauding the state, county and federal governments out of more than $417,000 through various scams. They now face grand theft, conspiracy and fraud charges.

In most cases, the suspects secure fake Social Security numbers and then get driver’s licenses under different names. Scammers use those identities to receive federal and state benefits and to apply for assistance through In-Home Health Care Services, Baker said.

In Alvarez’s case, she used up to three identities to scam various welfare programs, prosecutors said. They displayed photos of her disguised as three different women. She wore different hairstyles or wigs and used variations on her actual name.

Baker said she used the same date of birth on both of the phony IDs she employed to defraud the government.

Prosecutors say Alvarez and Flores defrauded the county, state and federal welfare programs of $306,106 and that Flores was in the country illegally.

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richard.winton@latimes.com