{"id":60293,"date":"2026-01-22T19:24:37","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T03:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=60293"},"modified":"2026-01-22T19:24:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T03:24:37","slug":"county-worker-pleads-guilty-to-calfresh-identity-theft-scheme-stole-ids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=60293","title":{"rendered":"County Worker Pleads Guilty to CalFresh Identity Theft Scheme, Stole IDs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"33\" data-end=\"233\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7857 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/FBI-Logo-289x300.png\" alt=\"FBI Latest Hate Crime Report: Hate Crimes Down Slightly in America\" width=\"289\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/FBI-Logo-289x300.png 289w, https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/FBI-Logo.png 636w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 289px) 100vw, 289px\" \/>A former Madera County benefits eligibility worker pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft for stealing personal information and fraudulently obtaining CalFresh benefits, federal prosecutors announced this week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"235\" data-end=\"602\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Leticia Mariscal, 55, of Madera, used her access to county databases between July 2022 and June 2025 to obtain identifying information for non-citizens, elderly individuals, and deceased people, according to court records.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"235\" data-end=\"602\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Mariscal faces a mandatory two-year prison term and a possible fine of up to $250,000.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"235\" data-end=\"602\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"> She then improperly approved or continued CalFresh benefits in their names, issued EBT cards, and spent the funds on herself and family members.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" title=\"\" data-start=\"604\" data-end=\"824\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Prosecutors said Mariscal sometimes contacted non-citizens and falsely claimed they needed to submit immigration documents to keep receiving benefits, causing them to stop using the accounts while she diverted the funds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" title=\"\" data-start=\"826\" data-end=\"900\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Authorities said Mariscal stole more than $40,000 from at least 15 people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"902\" data-end=\"1074\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">The FBI investigated the case with assistance from the Madera County District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" title=\"\" data-start=\"1076\" data-end=\"1347\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Mariscal is scheduled to be sentenced April 13, 2026, by U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" title=\"\" data-start=\"1076\" data-end=\"1347\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former Madera County benefits eligibility worker pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft for stealing personal information and fraudulently obtaining CalFresh benefits, federal prosecutors announced this week. Leticia Mariscal, 55, of Madera,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>County Worker Pleads Guilty to CalFresh Identity Theft Scheme, Stole IDs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A former Madera County benefits eligibility worker pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft for stealing personal information and fraudulently\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=60293\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"County Worker Pleads Guilty to CalFresh Identity Theft Scheme, Stole IDs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A former Madera County benefits eligibility worker pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft for stealing personal information and fraudulently\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=60293\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-23T03:24:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/download-2.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"259\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"194\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=60293#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=60293\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"County Worker Pleads Guilty to CalFresh Identity Theft Scheme, Stole IDs\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-23T03:24:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=60293\"},\"wordCount\":175,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=60293#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/download-2.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"American Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=60293#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=60293\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=60293\",\"name\":\"County Worker Pleads Guilty to CalFresh Identity Theft Scheme, Stole IDs\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=60293#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=60293#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/download-2.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-23T03:24:37+00:00\",\"description\":\"A former Madera County benefits eligibility worker pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft for stealing personal information and fraudulently\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=60293\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=60293#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/download-2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/download-2.png\",\"width\":259,\"height\":194},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\"&quot;Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.&quot; 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