WAILUKU – A woman was ordered to repay nearly $11,000 in welfare benefits she was overpaid while not reporting that she was living with her fiance.
Leeann Tamura, 32, of Kahului also was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service as part of five years’ probation when she was sentenced Sept. 26.
Tamura had asked for a chance to keep welfare fraud and second-degree theft convictions off her record, with Deputy Public Defender Jim Rouse saying the convictions would hurt her chances of finding a job.
“You probably can’t have a felony conviction to get a job that’s going to allow her to pay the money back,” Rouse said. “She’s clearly motivated.”
Deputy Prosecutor Johann Smith opposed Tamura’s request, saying Tamura didn’t have a job at the time she collected the welfare benefits from November 2011 to November 2012 and doesn’t have one now.
Tamura reported that “stealing is how she feeds her kids,” Smith said.
He said there was a “high likelihood” Tamura would reoffend, saying she has a history of theft.
In addition to a fourth-degree theft conviction in 2011, Tamura has a pending third-degree theft charge that was filed shortly before she was charged in the welfare case, Smith said. He said Tamura was arrested when she went to Wal-Mart with her boyfriend and sister, allegedly leaving without paying for 15 DVDs, candy and bed sheets.
“That’s not stealing to feed a family. That’s just stealing,” Smith said. “That’s just how she lives.
“It’s not going to be the conviction keeping her from having a job. It’s Ms. Tamura and her choices.”
Tamura had pleaded no contest to welfare fraud and second-degree theft.
She was charged for overpayments of SNAP, or food stamps, benefits she received while not reporting that she was living with her fiance, who was working, attorneys said.
Asked by 2nd Circuit Judge Richard Bissen where she lives now, Tamura said she has no home address. She said her three children usually sleep at her mother’s house but don’t live there.
Tamura said she has been looking for work. “Nothing has come up,” she said.
Bissen denied Tamura’s request for a chance to keep the convictions off her record.
“My view is that an employer has a right to know if the person they’re employing has stolen from someone before,” he said.
Tamura was ordered to pay $10,742 in restitution to the state Department of Human Services.
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