More Lakewood Arrests: Raids Continue in Welfare Fraud Investigation

Asbury Park Press
June 28, 2017

http://www.app.com/story/news/investigations/watchdog/2017/06/28/lakewood-welfare-fraud-arrests-continue/434666001/

Six people were arrested Tuesday night in federal and state raids in connection with an ongoing investigation that has so far exposed about $2 million in alleged public-assistance fraud in the town.

State authorities raided three homes Tuesday night, after raiding four homes and arresting eight people Monday on charges of stealing $1.3 million in public assistance.

"This is astronomical in terms of benefits," said a law enforcement source close to the investigation, who added there would be more arrests. "This is just the beginning."

Each of the six people arrested Tuesday is facing a charge of second-degree theft by deception, a state crime, according to a prepared statement from the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.

Yotzchok and Sora Kanarek, of Brisk Lane, were arrested late Tuesday in connection with an alleged welfare fraud scheme (Photo: Payton Guion)

The six people are accused of defrauding the government of just over $670,000, according to the prosecutor's office.

Those arrested Tuesday were Yitzchok and Sora Kanarek, of 15 Brisk Lane; Chaim and Liatt Ehrman, of 501 Twin Oaks Drive; and William and Faigy Friedman, of 36 Leigh Drive.

All six defendants video-conferenced into their first appearances before Judge James Blaney in Ocean County Superior Court Wednesday afternoon, where they were all released on their own recognizance.

The prosecution requested that the defendants give up their passports to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office in addition to checking in monthly over the phone.

The Kanareks wrongfully collected $339,002.56 in Medicaid, nutrition assistance, Social Security and federal housing funds, according to the prosecutor's office. The Ehrman's brought in $185,692.22 in improper Medicaid, nutrition assistance, utilities assistance and Sandy relief funds and the Friedmans bilked $149,842.28 in Medicaid, food, energy and housing funds, according to the prosecutor's office.

The arrests and raids were originally scheduled for Wednesday morning, but the prosecutor moved them up due to media reports on Tuesday afternoon, according to a law enforcement source.

“These continued arrests demonstrate the partner agencies’ vigilance in addressing government-benefits fraud in the Lakewood community and holding those who steal from New Jersey taxpayers accountable for their actions,” said the source, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

Law Enforcement try to make arrests at the home of Mordechai and Jocheved Breskin in Lakewood Township. Their arrest was part of a larger operation, led by federal and state authorities, that netted the arrests of six others. (Photo: Peter Ackerman)

Yitzchok Kanarek is the former rabbi of Oros Yisroel, a school for special-needs students that closed in 2015 due to federal and state tax liens of more than $295,000, according to public records.

Faigy Friedman is listed as the registered agent of a company called Pay-Per Payroll Services, LLC, public records show. A brochure for the company lists her home address as the address of the business, which offers payroll services to small businesses. Registered agents are required by the state as a point of contact for a business and are not necessarily the owner of the company.

Chaim Ehrman is listed as the registered agent of three businesses, according to public records. They are Buy it By Cases, The Jewelers List and True Hue, a cosmetics company. The businesses are not expected to be named in any of the charges, according to law enforcement officials

Like those arrested Monday, the six people arrested Tuesday are accused of underreporting their incomes over a period of several years to collect public-assistance benefits they weren’t entitled to receive.

Authorities "allege that the defendants misrepresented their income, declaring amounts that were low enough to receive the program's benefits, when in fact their income was too high to qualify," according to a joint statement from Ocean County Prosecutor Joe Coronato and state Comptroller Phillip James Degnan. The families "received income from numerous sources that they failed to disclose on required program applications."

Yosef B. Jacobovitch, of Lakewood-based Schwartz Burton LLP, is representing the Kanareks and Ehrmans. Stacy Ann Biancamano of Biancamano Law in Chatham is representing Faigy Friedman.