Buncombe County Government Announces a New Partnership between Health and Human Services, Sheriff’s Department and the District Attorney’s Office.

Buncombe County Sheriff Van Duncan and District Attorney Ron Moore have joined forces with the county’s Health and Human Services Department to crack down on “welfare fraud”: taking public assistance benefits one is not eligible for or using legitimate benefits for monetary gain.

Both the DHHS and law enforcement officials consider such fraud theft of valuable public resources—theft that hurts those who need benefits the most. The new partnership among departments will use new technology to educate report, investigate and prosecute fraud.

Public Assistance includes EBT nutrition benefits, Medicaid, child care subsidies, WIC, and Work First programs. According to Buncombe County DHHS, most county households that receive needed public assistance are home to a child, elderly person, or disabled individual.

Through a newly integrated case management system called NC FAST, eligibility is better tracked across programs, and universal caseworkers have access to client information across all public assistance programs. These factors will enable county staff to uncover fraud more quickly.

Building on this new technology, the Sheriff’s office, DHHS, and the District Attorney’s office have created a team with expertise on public assistance and investigation skills to detect and investigate cases of benefit fraud.

They also ask the public to report suspected fraud anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 255-5050.