ATLANTA,None — WIC, which stands for Women, Infants and Children, is a federally funded program that provides low-income pregnant women and children younger than 5 with proper nutrition. Channel 2 Action News investigative reporter Tom Regan spoke with a whistleblower who said that the program is conducive to fraud.
Spending In WIC Program Could Lead To Criminal Charges
"You can walk into the WIC office with no identification, no address and no income," said Kelly Baker, a former WIC employee and whistleblower.
Baker told Regan the program has few regulations to prevent fraud, and there is little done by employees to verify identity, income, even citizenship.
Channel 2 Action News sent an undercover producer into a WIC office in DeKalb County to see what it required to sign up. When Channel 2's producer told the WIC clerk that she did not have an ID or a Social Security number on hand, the clerk told her that was not necessary.
Baker also showed Regan several internal memos from the Georgia Department of Community Health, which oversees the multimillion-dollar program.
One memo instructed employees to accept expired IDs, even foreign IDs, but cautions, "Acceptance of an expired ID is not a practice WIC would like to advertise to the general public."
"It is horrible that we have legal citizens that do without, but we have illegal aliens that come in and, without proof, walk away with thousands and thousands per family," said Baker.
"We watch them pull up in a Mercedes, Coach purses, iPhones and diamond rings," said Baker.
Channel 2 Action News sent an undercover photographer to sit outside a WIC clinic to see if Baker's statement was accurate. Channel 2's photographer watched several high-end vehicles drive up to the clinic, including a Hummer, BMW, even an Escalade.
"My job is to approve them for WIC; I have been told that numerous times by several supervisors," said Baker.
Our Channel 2 Action News investigation found that vouchers are not only easy to obtain but sell for cash.
A Channel 2 Action News undercover producer visited a store down the street from a DeKalb County WIC clinic that was willing to buy WIC vouchers for cash. The clerk told her, "A regular one, we will give you like $5 per voucher."
Baker told Regan that while WIC has good intentions, it is failing to properly manage and disperse the hundreds of millions in taxpayer money that goes into it.
"I think that it was a good program for kids who do not have formula, but once you don't hold people accountable for what they tell you, then anyone can tell you what they want," said Baker.
Channel 2 Action News reached out to WIC and the Department of Community Health, and received this response on May 25:
"The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) is a federal supplemental nutritional program administered by the states. The program's intention is to provide healthy food to lower income mothers and their children under five years old. In Georgia, the WIC program provides services to more than 300,000 participants per month."
"Every applicant in the Georgia WIC program is screened for eligibility which includes identity, income, residency, and nutritional risk. Georgia's WIC program is heavily engaged in stopping fraud and investigators take seriously all claims of fraud. To combat fraud while protecting the hungry, Georgia WIC aggressively verifies eligibility for all applicants beginning immediately after applications are submitted and ineligible members are removed from the system and unable to continue receiving benefits."
"In accordance with federal guidance, Georgia WIC does not consider citizenship status when determining program eligibility. As an income-based program, personal assets (such as vehicles or personal items) are not permissible considerations in determining WIC eligibility," the statement concluded.
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