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| Dawn Jackson |
DELAND, Florida -- Volusia County
Sheriff’s investigators arrested a human services employee for the county
on Wednesday night for allegedly using her job to fraudulently secure more than $1,500 in
financial assistance.
Investigators arrested
35-year-old Dawn Jackson on charges of grand theft and fraudulently obtaining
goods, services or money. Both are felony offenses.
Jackson is a staff assistant
in the County’s Human Services office, which provides temporary emergency
assistance to financially-needy residents who meet certain eligibility
criteria. Jackson
was hired by the county in November 2006 and has been assigned to Human
Services since May 2008, where she was able to learn the procedures for
processing applications for financial aid. Officials said that’s what
enabled her to commit the fraud. The staff at Human Services was first to
discover the financial irregularities during a recent audit and then quickly called
in the Sheriff’s Office to conduct a criminal investigation.
Using the application for
a former Human Services client who is now dead, Jackson was allegedly able to direct
financial aid to pay her rent on two occasions and her utility bill one time.
The total funds involved was $1,532.
However, authorities say that the investigation is still active
and additional records are being collected for review. After being called in by
a supervisor, Jackson allegedly
said she knew that she had been caught and was concerned that she was going to
be arrested. Sheriff’s investigators picked her up at her home in DeLand
shortly before 11 p.m. Wednesday night and took her to jail.