Louisiana Spent $1M on Food for the Dead

Louisiana spent more than $1 million on food-stamp aid for people who weren’t exactly hungry. According to a report released Monday by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor, the state spent $1.3 million on food stamps designated for people who were already dead between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2013. Some $556,000 was spent on people who had passed away at least four months prior, though nearly $228,000 had been spent on food stamps for those dead less than a month. Under state rules, unless food stamps go unused for a year, they cannot be recovered, leaving ample time for others to claim food stamps allocated for the deceased. The Department of Children and Family Services said that it would try to improve matching food-stamp records with death records to prevent this from recurring. However, it also noted that the “likelihood of recovering these funds is very low because DCFS does not know who spent the funds and retailers usually only maintain surveillance videos for a very short period.”