From The Lebanon Democrat:
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation special agents received additional indictments for a former employee of the Tennessee Department of Human Services in Lebanon and an alleged accomplice in an ongoing fraud case that involved the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps.
TBI special agents stared an investigation involving Tracey Deshaye Timbs, 44, of Pleasant Shade, on April 11, 2014 at the request of DHS and 15th District Attorney Tommy Thompson. During the investigation, agents developed information revealing a ring of people apparently involved in creating false SNAP benefit accounts and selling them for profit.
Both Timbs and Matthew Scott Nichols, 32, of Watertown, waived an open court reading of the initial indictment during an arraignment in July, and both pleaded not guilty. (Note: Timbs was indicted on 10 counts last year; Nichols on six. In the latest round, two new felony indictments were added for both.)
In early 2014, DHS officials believed possible fraudulent SNAP – previously referred to as food stamp – accounts were created and sold for profit out of its Lebanon office on Legends Drive, where Timbs worked as an eligibility counselor. Investigators further found Timbs apparently tampered with government records to create the accounts, producing EBT cards and identifying information, which were subsequently mailed to several people, including Nichols, in exchange for cash and drugs.
Investigators said Thursday they identified more than 40 false accounts with more than $170,000 in benefits distributed fraudulently. Department of Human Services officials fired Timbs from her job.