Former DFACS employees plead to federal charges

A pair of former Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) employees each pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud.

The charges stem from a scheme to defraud the U.S. Department of Agriculture of $600,000 dollars, state officials say.

“The defendants in this case stole hundreds of thousands of dollars intended for some of our neediest citizens who rely on assistance to put food on the table,” Attorney General Sam Olens said in a news release. “These criminals were brought to justice as the result of the strong cooperative effort by state and federal officials. We will continue to work together to protect the interests of Georgians and our taxpayer dollars.”

According to authorities, between November 2009 and March 2010, Gene Tell of East Point and Kristy Nicole Williams of Decatur were employed as financial independence case managers in the Dekalb County DFCS office. Investigators say the two used their positions “to fraudulently cause EBT accounts to be reactivated or created new EBT cards to be issued for the fraudulent accounts.”

As a result of this scheme, Tell and Williams received payment.