PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — Some groups that were hired to get food to needy people in western South Dakota for the state Department of Human Services are under criminal investigation, according to the head of the Legislature’s panel that oversees state government’s financial matters.
The revelation of a third probe involving a state government department came Tuesday as Republican Rep. Ernie Otten presented the 29-page report on the annual activities of the Government Operations and Audit Committee to the Legislature’s Executive Board .
Otten said Republican Sen. Ryan Maher brought the DHS matter to his attention. Otten didn’t go into specifics but said he took Maher’s information to the state Department of Legislative Audit. He said the state Office of Attorney General has its Medicaid fraud unit now looking into it.
State prosecutors already have two major criminal cases open regarding allegations of state government corruption.
One involves theft totaling more than $1.7 million by a former employee of the child-protection office at the state Department of Social Services. The other involves criminal misrepresentation of motor vehicle titles for financial gain by several now-former employees in the state Department of Revenue.