A woman in Pennsylvania is facing charges after allegedly using her position with the county to steal $20,500 in food assistance benefits that she exchanged for drugs and items at stores around town.
Sheila McDonald of Pittsburgh worked as the EBT coordinator at the Lehigh County Assistance Office when, according to a Tuesday, October 20 report in the Lehigh Daily News, a person complained about not getting their card. However, an investigation determined that the card had been activated and used. It didn’t take long before the trail led back to McDonald, 46, who had access to both the card and the person’s personal information to activate it.
Upon further investigation, the outlet reported that she’d allegedly carried out the same scheme with up to 48 cards some 270 times, valuing a total $20,558.61 (or $438 per card) in stolen money.
Fox 56 reported that an unidentified man told investigators that McDonald had traded him EBT cards and their PINs in exchange for crack cocaine. He reportedly said he assumed she obtained the cards through her job with the county…