By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Perkins woman accused of obtaining $3,534 worth of food stamps during a 10-month period by false representations to a caseworker for the Department of Human Services has been ordered to appear in Payne County District Court on Feb. 27 for arraignment on the felony charge.
Kristen Angela Day, 47, who was arrested last week and released on $5,000 bail, could be given a two-year prison term and a $5,000 fine if convicted, court records show.
The case was investigated by Senior Agent Phillip Ott with the Oklahoma DHS Office of Inspector General’s fraud unit, court records show.
The affidavit alleged that Day misrepresented her household composition by not reporting her children’s father and his income.
If Day’s husband, who has not been charged in the case, “was reported in the home and his income had been properly reported, the household would have been ineligible to receive welfare assistance,” the agent alleged in his affidavit.
After the agent interviewed Day at the Payne County DHS Office on May 28, 2019, she asked what would happen next, the affidavit said.
“Ms. Day requested Agent Ott not to speak with her neighbors. Ms. Day then made the statement she was not truthful with Agent Ott about something,” the affidavit alleged.
“Ms. Day stated her mother does not live in Tulsa (as she had told the agent); she lives next door. This is the reason why she does not want Agent Ott to speak with her neighbors,” the affidavit alleged. The agent again told her that he would speak with her neighbors, the affidavit said.
“Ms. Day stated the neighbors were going to tell Agent Ott that (her husband) is there at least two weeks out of every month. Agent Ott asked if this was the case and she said yes, but it wasn’t two weeks straight,” the affidavit alleged.
“Agent Ott asked Ms. Day if the maroon Tahoe was not actually her friend’s,” as she had told the agent, but her husband’s vehicle, the affidavit alleged.
“Ms. Day stated, ‘Possibly…I just don’t want to get in trouble,"” the affidavit alleged.
The agent said that he spoke to two neighbors, who said they did not know the couple well, the affidavit said.
“Both stated they believed they have lived together in the home since moving into the neighborhood around the first part of 2019,” the affidavit said.
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