Three more couples arrested for benefits fraud

Three more couples were arrested Tuesday night in Lakewood. Their arrests followed after arrest four couples, including Rabbi Zalmen Sorotskina and his wife Zippora on Monday. They are accused of hiding their income in order to receive social security benefits in the amount of about $ 2 million, to which they were not eligible.

The three couples - Yitzchok and Sora Kanarek, Chaim and Liatt Ehrman and William and Feiji Friedman - were scheduled to appear in state court on Wednesday.

Prosecutors say they hid their income, and then received more than $ 674 000 in the form of benefits. Couples receive program benefits Medicaid, housing program, as well as social security and nutrition.

Yithok Kanarek previously ran a school in Lakewood for students with special needs, which was closed in the 2015 year, after receiving more than $ 250 thousands in accordance with public records.

“It really bothers me when people take advantage of programs like this,” Lakewood Mayor Ray Coles said in the press room. Asbury park press. “I have a list of people who are waiting in line for housing assistance, perhaps 2000 families who really need it. I don't want to see things like that."

Duvi Hongig, who heads the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce in Lakewood, said that thousands of Jewish families in Lakewood need government assistance, but some of them tend to take more than they should.

Lakewood is the fastest growing city in the state and has more than 100 private religious schools. People expressed concern about how government money is being spent, and complaints from neighboring communities came along that said they were facing overly aggressive real estate agents who wanted to find homes for the Jewish community.

According to the census, in 2010, there were almost 93 000 residents in the city, which is about 32 000 more than a decade earlier. According to Lakewood officials, the population is now close to 120 000 residents.

Recall that during the arrests on Monday rabbi Zalmen Sorotskina and his wife Zippore was brought the charge of receiving more than $ 338 thousand in the form of benefits to which, as stated by the prosecutors, they were not eligible. Their lawyer said the defendants plead not guilty.

The couple was accused together with Mordechai and Yocheved Breskin, who, according to prosecutors, received more than $ 585 thousand in the form of benefits, which they were also not entitled to.

Zalmen Sorotzkin's brother and his wife were one of two couples who, by agreement, got tricked Medicaid.

They earned more than a million dollars in the 2012 year and in the 2013 year, they say in the case, but they still received more than $ 96 thousand in the form of benefits under the program Medicaid, including $ 22 thousands to pay for medical expenses, when their sixth child was born in November 2013 of the year.

According to the federal prosecution, the Nussbaum family concealed their income by creating companies that controlled them, but according to documents they were managed by relatives.

In the 2013 year, they earned a total of $ 1,8 million, but before the 2014 year they still received Medicaid and food benefits, prosecutors said.

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