Social Services Worker Accused of $25K Food Stamp Theft

Trunona Damal Givens has worked in the Gaston County Department of Social Services for the past eight years. And for the last nine months, the Gastonia, Georgia resident has allegedly managed a database of names and social security numbers to swipe the identities of seven people.

The 35-year-old woman used the ID's to cheat Uncle Sam out of $25,000 in food stamp benefits.

Investigators claim that Givens not only utilized some of the food stamp cards for herself, she also doled them out to family members. A few were even sold at a cut rate; police discovered that one card valued at $668 was purchased by an individual for the sale price of $400.

The Gaston County agency that employed Givens handles roughly 18,000 food stamp benefits cases per month.

Givens was placed under surveillance last August. The actual person of one of the seven identities Givens had allegedly stolen went to a social services office in another county to apply for food stamp benefits and this move was a tip-off. The agency's powers-that-be contacted local police investigators after they examined Givens' paper trail of cases. The plot began to come apart at the seams quickly and Givens' scheme went kaput.

According to Gaston County Police Sgt. Stephen Dover, Givens, who never had any disciplinary actions against her on the job, was not a solo act and he suspects, she had helpers, he told the Gaston Gazette. He did not delve further into his suspicions further because the case is still ongoing. Thus far, there have been no other arrests.

Givens, worked as a Walmart cashier twelve years ago and was charged with embezzlement, then convicted of a misdemeanor larceny. Although she had a police record and conviction, it did not keep her from landing a job at the social services agency.

After posting a $10,000 bond and being released from Gaston County Jail on Monday, Givens faces a total of 21 charges, including seven counts of food stamp fraud, seven counts of identity theft and seven counts of accessing computers.

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