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California Welfare & Institutions Code 10980 WIC prohibits welfare fraud, which occurs when people make false statements to receive benefits they are not eligible for. Welfare fraud can be a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the facts of the case and the amount of benefits the defendant wrongly received.
Your penalty under Welfare and Institutions Code 10980 will depend on the specific type of welfare fraud you are convicted of, as outlined below. Statements If you are convicted of making a false or misleading statement in an effort to obtain benefits, you face a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a maximum $500 fine. 10
(1) If the total amount of the aid obtained or retained is nine hundred fifty dollars ($950) or less, by imprisonment in a county jail for a period of not more than six months, by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500), or by both imprisonment and fine.
What Are the Penalties for Welfare Fraud in California? Since there are so many ways to violate WIC 10980, some more serious than others, there is a wide range of possible penalties for committing welfare fraud depending on which part of the law you are convicted of violating.
10 wrz 2023 · Penalties for Welfare Fraud. Filing a fraudulent application is a wobbler offense in California. It may be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the number and type of false applications submitted. A felony conviction carries up to three years in prison and fines of up to $5,000.
Under California law, there are two ways to commit welfare fraud: as a recipient, or internally. The more common offense is recipient fraud, where someone provides false, misleading or incomplete information in order to obtain illegitimate state benefits.
Most misdemeanor welfare fraud offenses are punishable by fines up to $1000 and up to one year in jail; Most felony offenses carry fines of up to $5000 and are either 16 months, two years, or three years in a California state prison. Let's review specific types of offenses.
