ONEIDA COUNTY, N.Y. - Oneida County District Attorney Scott D. McNamara announced Monday the arrest of 37 individuals for welfare and unemployment fraud. 

These arrests are part of "Operation Tax Burden."  Investigators from the Oneida County District Attorney's Office working with members of the Utica Police Department, Oneida County Sheriff's Office, Oneida County Probation Department, United States Marshall's Office, New York State Police, New York State Division of Parole, New Hartford Police Department, New York Mills Police Department, Yorkville Police Department and Herkimer County Sheriff's Office executed arrest warrants over the last week to bring to justice to these individuals who allegedly have been illegally or fraudulently collecting welfare or unemployment benefits. 

It is alleged that the subjects of these raids have collectively received more than $100,000 in illegal benefits. 

The largest alleged theft involved Kimberly Hanson-Tennant, who is alleged to have illegally collected $14,217. 

District Attorney McNamara stated, "My office, along with the Oneida County Department of Social Services and the local law enforcement agencies in Oneida County will continue to aggressively investigate these type of cases in which individuals cheat the system, and thereby steal from the taxpayers.  We will not tolerate those who take advantage of the taxpayers and abuse a system designed to help those who truly are in need."
 

Defendant (Age)	Charge	Alleged Amount	Type
1.  Debbie Jo Hallman (40)	Grand Larceny 3rd	$5138.50	Unemployment
2.  Oscar Boykin (55)	Grand Larceny 4th	$1,320	Welfare
3.  Ryan Titus (28)	Grand Larceny 4th	$1,909	Welfare
4.  Ken Chilton (51)	Grand Larceny 4th	$1,021	Welfare
5.  Craig Chisholm (24)	Grand Larceny 4th	$1,585	Welfare
6.  Delilah Sanders (23)	Grand Larceny 4th	$1,585	Welfare
7.  Marc Vitrella (35)	Grand Larceny 3rd	$5,138.50	Unemployment
8.  Derek Stiles (24)	Grand Larceny 3rd	$4,087.75	Unemployment
9.  Adina Custovic (43)	Grand Larceny 3rd	$6,110	Welfare
10. Husein Selimovic (43)	Grand Larceny 3rd	$6,110	Welfare
11. Kimberly Hanson-Tennant(44)	Grand Larceny 3rd	$14, 217	Welfare
12. Tina Kimball (33)	Obtaining Welfare by Fraud	$612	Welfare
13. Raymond Kimball (34)	Obtaining Welfare by Fraud	$612	Welfare
14. Susan Gendron (41)	Grand Larceny 3rd	$9,566	Welfare
15. Lawrence Klish (44)	Obtaining Welfare by Fraud	$660	Welfare
16. Taquanda R. Taylor (20)	Welfare Fraud 4th	$2,107.93	Welfare
17. Amanda Bidwell (26)	Misuse of Food Stamps	$665	Welfare
18. Joanna Francis (45)	Grand Larceny 4th	$1,338	Welfare
19. William Mann (52)	Misuse of Food Stamps	$815	Welfare
20. Troy Mushak (33)	Grand Larceny 3rd	$5,106	Unemployment
21. John Serfass (48)	Grand Larceny 4th	$2,314	Welfare
22. Mary Serfass (45)	Grand Larceny 4th	$2,314	Welfare
23. Starr Tuttle (47)	Welfare Fraud 4th	$1,824	Welfare
24. John Bunce (37)	Obtaining Welfare by Fraud	$600	Welfare
25. Linda Adams (57)	Grand Larceny 4th	$2,119	Welfare
26. Jose Molina (41)	Grand Larceny 4th	$2,108.16	Welfare
27. Kirk Godfrey (37)	Grand Larceny 4th	$4,211.50	Unemployment
28. Christy Burgy (37)	Obtaining Welfare by Fraud	$486.50	Welfare
29. Robert Piechowicz (36)	Grand Larceny 3rd	$7,970	Unemployment
30. Daniel Pascasio (30)	Obtaining Welfare by Fraud	$632	Welfare
31. Rebecca Morey (33)	Obtaining Welfare by Fraud	$1,322	Welfare
32. Allen Morey (35)	Obtaining Welfare by Fraud	$1,322	Welfare
33. Marialena Zielinski (40)	Grand Larceny 3rd	$3,918	Welfare
34. Stanislaw Zielinski (34)	Grand Larceny 3rd	$3,918	Welfare
35. Charles Janicke (41)	Grand Larceny 3rd	$4,717	Welfare
36. Kathy Janicke (47)	Grand Larceny 3rd	$4,717	Welfare
37. James Bailey (24)	Grand Larceny 3rd	$5,663.75	Unemployment

 

The investigation is ongoing and police are still attempting to execute ten (10) additional arrest warrants regarding this operation.