POLICE: NEW LONDON WOMAN LIED ABOUT INCOME TO GET BENEFITS
New London — A city woman is facing three charges of first-degree larceny after state officials said she collected social service benefits while failing to disclose the income of her children’s father, who was living in her home.
Victoria E. Alford, 35, of 187 Huntington St., Apt. B1, is the accused. According to the arrest warrant affidavit, which was written by a state Department of Social Services investigator, a March 2017 complaint alerted officials to the potential fraud.
In investigating the complaint, officials said they learned Alford had identified herself as a single parent living at 187 Huntington St., Apt. B1, in applications for Care4Kids, which is a DSS child care program; the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and Temporary Family Assistance, or TFA.
Regulations require participants of the programs to notify officials within 10 days if their residency, household composition, countable income of a family member and/or employment status change.
According to the affidavit, Alford married the father of at least one of her children in June 2016 and had lived with him prior to that. A search of available documents revealed the other parent had listed his address as 187 Huntington St., Apt. B1, as early as April 2014. According to the affidavit, the father again listed that address in various applications in September 2014, March 2016, July 2016 and January 2017.
Alford told police in September that she only allowed the father to stay at her home for two-week increments and was not on good terms with him. Because he was not on the lease, she said, she didn’t include him or his income in her social service benefit applications.
According to the affidavit, Alford received $10,665.48 in Care4Kids benefits from June 2015 through February 2017. She received $15,189 in SNAP benefits from November 2014 through May 2017, the affidavit states. She also received $5,292 in TFA benefits from October 2014 through December 2014, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit states she would not have been eligible for any of the benefits had she listed her partner’s income.
State police on Jan. 13 arrested Alford. Released on a $10,000 nonsurety bond, she is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in New London Superior Court. he passed two men standing outside. He identified one of the men as Gordon but told police he didn’t know the other man.
The victim told police the men followed him. When he turned around, the affidavit states, the man he didn’t know punched him in the head. Witnesses later identified the second alleged perpetrator as Lester Smith.
Accounts of the scuffle that followed vary. Some witnesses told police they saw punches and kicks. Some saw just punches. Others described the altercation as “wrestling.” According to the affidavit, the victim sustained an eye socket fracture, a hemorrhage in the right eye, a head injury and a laceration to the right eyebrow. Police on arrival called an ambulance for the victim, in part because he had begun vomiting.
The victim additionally lost his iPhone X during the encounter. According to the affidavit, one of the two men who jumped him took it.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether police have charged or plan to charge the other three people they connected to the incident.
Gordon, released on a $20,000 surety bond, is next due in New London Superior Court on Feb. 9.