Salinas couple pleads guilty to welfare fraud resulting in nearly $14K in overpayment

The Monterey County District Attorney’s Office said a Salinas couple pleaded guilty Thursday to felony welfare fraud.

Between May 2014 and June 2018, investigators said 32-year-old Margarita Luna-Mondragon and 35-year-old Jorge Navarrete Sanchez received CalFresh benefits and CalWorks benefits, saying they needed the help to support their children while they were unemployed. After an investigation, the Department of Social Services and the DA’s office said they found that both Luna-Mondragon and Sanchez were employed during the entire time period.

The District Attorney’s Office said Luna-Mondragon’s and Sanchez’s income was above the level required to receive benefits. The misrepresentation led to $13,804 in overpayment of benefits.

The couple will be sentenced in September. Both are facing three years of felony probation and up to a year in jail. They will also have to pay back losses to the Department of Social Services.