Former Jasper County Official Sentenced for Document Fraud

A former public administrator of Jasper County, Missouri was sentenced in federal court today for document fraud, which was part of a scheme in which she illegally obtained federal benefits for her public wards.

Springfield, MO – infoZine – Rita Frances Hunter, 60, of Joplin, Missouri, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple to 12 months and a day in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Hunter to pay $120,000 in restitution to the Department of Health and Human Services. Hunter must report on August 1, 2013, to begin serving her prison sentence.

“This elected official betrayed the public trust and defrauded the government,” Dickinson said. “The citizens of Jasper County deserve to have honest public servants who fulfill their civic obligations lawfully, and in this case, they deserved better.”

Hunter, who pleaded guilty to document fraud on November 6, 2012, was the elected public administrator for Jasper County from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2008.

Full Article and Source:
Former Jasper County Official Sentenced for Document Fraud

See Also:
Civil Suits Against Rita Hunter Pending

Attorney: San Mateo County Office so Chaotic That Workers Had to Cover Dead Clients’ Estate Costs

The San Mateo County Public Administrator’s office was so disorganized that employees frequently paid for work-related expenses out of their own pockets and reimbursed themselves from clients’ accounts, according to a legal motion. The attorney for one of two former county employees arrested in June on suspicion of stealing from the estates of deceased residents filed the motion in an attempt to obtain grand jury transcripts on the case.

Although federal Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins denied release of the transcripts, Dean Johnson, the lawyer for defendant Peter Wong, said he is confident his client and fellow defendant Mandy Natchi Yagi will be vindicated if the case goes to trial as scheduled May 6.

“They worked for the county under some very difficult circumstances,” Johnson said. “They tried very hard to do a very good job.”

Wong, of Daly City, and Yagi, of San Mateo, were arrested by FBI agents in June and charged with conspiracy to commit theft from a federally funded program and theft concerning a federally funded program. An indictment filed in U.S. District Court and unsealed after their arrest states that the two took money, jewelry and other valuables from estates they administered.

In his motion, Johnson claimed the FBI’s evidence showed that the Public Administrator’s office “was best described as chaotic.”

Full Article and Source:
Attorney: San Mateo County Office so Chaotic That Workers Had to Cover Dead Clients’ Estate Costs