The employee, Nancy Acevdeo, 52, who works in the custodial department, was charged alongside Faraj Assi, 42; Mayra Rivas-Pozo, 39; and Angelica Roman, 39. They are each charged with third-degree theft by deception.
A forensic analysis of the school lunch program by the Special Prosecutions Unit and Detective Dennis Donovan was launched when an audit by the school district turned up discrepancies, authorities said. The free and reduced lunch program, which is intended for needy students, is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Investigators looked at three years of data and discovered that the suspects enrolled multiple children in the program, fraudulently claiming $7,000 in benefits by under-reporting their income by more than $925,000, authorities said.
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