Welfare Thugs!

Forum Gawd Sat Dec 15, 2012 6:50 pm

Former San Bernardino County welfare worker, a Fontana resident, gets 10-year prison term

A former San Bernardino County welfare worker and her son were sentenced Friday to a total of 18 years in state prison for the embezzlement of nearly $100,000 in cash aid and food stamps intended for needy families.
San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Michael A. Smith sentenced Lynda Holman, 62, of Fontana to 10 years in prison and her son Justin Holman, 27, also of Fontana, to eight years.
Smith also sentenced 62-year-old Jewel Holman - Lynda Holman's husband and Justin Holman's father - to three years of supervised probation for felony possession of a firearm.
Also sentenced Friday was family friend Howard Turner, 46, whom authorities said was a participant in the embezzlement scheme. He was gicen a six-year term.
Lynda Holman's attorney, Daniel Greenberg, said his client cooperated with authorities from the get-go and assisted prosecutor Michelle Lauron in building her case.
"I think she (Holman) believes that for her wrongdoing, for the crime she committed, her sentence is one that is harsh, but fair," Greenberg said. "She just wants to get her time done and get back in time to see her elderly mother, who is in poor health, and be with her family and husband. She's very sorry that she put a lot of people through this situation."
He said that under current sentencing guidelines, the Holmans will serve about half their sentences before being eligible for parole.
Lauron sought nearly double the prison time for each of the defendants in her initial plea offering due to the nature of the crimes, but ultimately agreed to amended terms proposed by Judge Smith. And she was content with the fact that none of the felony counts charged were dropped as part of the plea bargain.
Lynda Holman pleaded guilty in August to 106 felony counts, including grand theft, misappropriation of public funds, identity theft and embezzlement by a public officer. Justin Holman pleaded guilty to 105 felony counts, Turner to 36 felony counts and Jewel Holman to the firearm possession charge.
As an eligibility worker for the county, Lynda Holman, who began working for the county welfare division in 1996, diverted nearly $100,000 in food stamp and EBT card cash aid to her family members and Turner between 2006 and 2009, authorities said.
She trolled the county's computer system for welfare recipients whose physical descriptions matched those of the defendants and whose cases were inactive, then changed the addresses to those of the defendants but left the names of the intended recipients' intact, authorities said.
The family matriarch has more than a half-dozen felony offenses in San Bernardino, Riverside and Los Angeles counties dating back to the early 1970s, including writing bad checks, forgery and a pimping and pandering conviction in 1987 in which her husband was also convicted.
Jewel Holman said Friday he has already completed his court-ordered 200 hours of community service, which he did at his church.
He said his wife did what she did for their son, who had fallen on hard times when the crimes occurred.
"We're talking about a woman mandated to give money to illegal immigrants, but she can't get anything for her son," Holman said of his wife. "Justin fell on hard times. He had no job. That's all it was."
Now, he'll have to spend the holidays alone, something he said he has gotten used to. He said he's getting old and is tired of his family's scrapes with the law.
He's looking forward to putting it all behind him.
"I'm 62. I'm just trying to get by with no more hiccups," he said. "I have to live with this. I love my wife. I'm going to be there for her."