A woman living in Iowa illegally is sentenced to two months in federal prison for illegally obtaining welfare.
Forty-six-year-old Cleotilde Gomez was living in Clarion pleaded guilty to theft of U.S. government funds. She admitted that when she applied for food stamps she failed to report her husband’s income. Her husband Melvin Barrios is also in the country illegally and was working under an alias using someone else’s Social Security number.
Court records show Gomez received nearly $20,000 in overpayment of food stamps after failing to report her husband’s income. Gomez was ordered to pay back the money in addition to serving the prison time.
Her husband was sentenced in March to six months in federal prison after being found guilty of three counts of unlawful use of an identification document and four counts of misuse of a Social Security number.