Five workers with the Government Accountability Office – the agency that’s supposed to watchdog the federal government for waste and abuse – have been charged in a school-lunch program scheme that saw their own kids improperly getting free and discount-priced food.
The employees, including one who serves as a member of Prince George’s County School Board, were indicted for illegally tapping into the reduced-price lunch program by underreporting their incomes – and, in one case, reporting zero income. The workers actually drew substantial paychecks, the Washington Post reported. And a sixth was indicted; prosecutors accuse the spouse of another GAO worker of participating in the scheme.
The alleged theft is estimated to have cost taxpayers $13,000 over four years.
“This is a program for people who can’t afford it, but these are people who can,” said John Erzen, a spokesman for the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Office, in the Washington Post.
The Board of Education official who was charged, Lynette Mundey, along with the other five GAO workers face punishment for theft, fraud and filing false applications.
Their salaries at the time of allegedly using the reduced-lunch program ranged from $55,000 to $78,000, the newspaper reported.
Reduced-price lunches go for 40 cents, versus the full-price for elementary students, at $2.75, and for middle- and high-schoolers, at $3. The federal program allows those with incomes under $30,615 to obtain free lunches for their children and those with salaries below $43,568 with four people in their home to tap into reduced-price meals.
