Chualar couple pleads guilty to felony welfare fraud

Two Chualar residents pleaded guilty to felony welfare fraud on Tuesday.

Between April 2015 and October 2017, 31-year-old Ana Villegas and 41-year-old Juan Garcia-Aspeitia were receiving CalFresh and CalWorks benefits and said they needed it to support their children while they were unemployed.

The Department of Social Services and the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office investigated and found out that both Villegas and Garcia-Aspeitia were employed during the entire period and misrepresented their income. Their household income was above the level required to be eligible for benefits.

The District Attorney’s Office said the misrepresentations led to $21,014 in an overpayment of benefits.

Villegas and Garcia-Aspeitia will be sentenced in October, and both are facing felony probation, up to a year in jail and an order to pay back losses to the Department of Social Services.