Former JFS worker Rebecca Ann Shafer gets 5 years of probation for stealing $47,974

A former Richland County Job and Family Services public assistance specialist, who pleaded guilty to using her position to secure nearly $50,000 for her boyfriend and his children, received 60 months of probation Monday in Richland County Common Pleas Court.

If Rebecca Ann Shafer violates her terms of probation including failing to make restitution for $47,974 to the state of Ohio, she will serve a 42-month prison sentence, Richland County Common Pleas Judge Phil Naumoff told her.

Naumoff sentenced her to 30 days in the Richland County Jail to begin July 1. She also was ordered to submit to drug and alcohol testing, have no contact with JFS, seek and maintain employment, and not reside with the person with whom she is having sexual relations unless it is her spouse she is separated from. She currently resides with the man who benefited from her crime, Naumoff said.

Naumoff told Shafer he believes she should go to prison but he can't because she has no prior history of a criminal record as an adult or a child.

Naumoff said Shafer is not going to prison but at least she will have some kind of repayment to the community with the jail sentence.

Judge: 'You have to feel it a little bit'

"You have to feel it a little bit Ms. Shafer. A lot of trust was lost," the judge said.

"The problem here, Ms. Shafer, you were in a job of public trust," the judge said. "There are so many people ... people receiving benefits that don't deserve benefits. They call them 'handouts'. That's exactly what happened here, isn't it? The fact of the matter is by residing with your boyfriend, you were receiving some of those benefits yourself and using them. You should be ashamed," Naumoff said.

"People trust us in these positions," he said. "... Somebody like yourself gives everybody else a black eye. And it hurts those people who really need those benefits."

Shafer said to the judge, "I'm very sorry for what I did. It was stupid and I regret doing it and I will never do anything like that ever again... ," she said.

She said she would begin paying back the money Monday after court with a payment of $500.

In March, Shafer, 49, changed her plea to guilty to a charge of theft in office, a felony of the fourth degree; pleaded guilty to a charge of illegal use of food stamps, a felony of the fifth degree; and pleaded guilty to a charge of Medicaid eligibility fraud, a felony of the fifth degree.

Shafer was initially investigated on suspicion of using her position to improperly secure nearly $50,000 in benefits for her boyfriend and a child, Auditor of State Keith Faber earlier said in a news release.

Her actions resulted in her boyfriend and children receiving $39,670 in Medicaid benefits and $8,304 in SNAP benefits, or $47,974 total, the state auditor's legal representative said earlier before Naumoff.

Faber's statement indicates his office was tipped off by a JFS administrator, and that Shafer resigned in April of 2021.

In court in March, Samuel J. Kirk, legal counsel of the Ohio Auditor of State's Special Investigations Unit, said Shafer was employed at Richland County Job & Family Service from about Nov. 14, 2018 to April 21, 2021. Monday, a representative from the state auditor's office, Tom Anger, sat at the prosecutor's table.

Assigned herself to boyfriend's case

As part of her job she was to screen applications for Medicare and SNAP benefits. She assigned herself to an application for Medicaid benefits in the computer to her live-in boyfriend Steven Morgan in 2018, and Medicaid benefits to his son and his daughter on later dates, Kirk said. She made entries to cover up that she had assigned herself to the case, he said.

She recorded income for the applicant in the JFS computer which was false, and which she knew was false, and approved the application for Medicaid which was grossly overstated, Kirk said. Her actions caused those funds to be issued to her boyfriend and his children, he added. Kirk said that Shafer and her boyfriend shared a bank account.

Initially, Shafer faced seven felony counts, including theft in office, telecommunications fraud, illegal use of food stamps and Medicaid eligibility fraud, the state auditor's office said.

The county's court records showed that Shafer faced one charge of third-degree felony theft in office, one charge of third-degree felony telecommunications fraud, two charges of fourth-degree felony illegal use of food stamps or WIC program benefits, and three charges of fourth-degree felony Medicaid eligibility fraud. Counts 2, 4, 6 and 7 were dismissed.

Her attorney asked if she could serve her jail sentence at the Community Alternative Center so she could continue to work. The judge said Shafer would be responsible for paying $1,200 to serve her jail time there and that she must pay upfront.

lwhitmir@gannett.com

419-521-7223

Twitter: @LWhitmir

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Judge gives JFS ex-worker 5 years of probation for stealing $47,974