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Couple sentenced for fraud

| May 27, 2009 1:00 AM

The Daily Inter Lake

A Kalispell couple convicted of defrauding the government out of almost $8,000 in Food Stamp benefits have been sentenced to five years on probation.

Jeffrey Alan Albrecht, 42, and his wife, Lisa Shanks Albrecht, 42, also were ordered to pay more than $6,400 in restitution during a hearing Thursday in U.S. District Court in Missoula.

The couple pleaded guilty in January to government program fraud.

According to court records, the Albrechts lied on welfare applications to the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services between April 2005 and December 2007.

Eventually they received more than $7,000 in Food Stamp benefits and more than $1,000 in Medicaid benefits to which they were not entitled.

The Albrechts consistently told the Department of Public Health and Human Services that Lisa Albrecht worked at a Kalispell sandwich shop, then at a department store, but that Jeffrey Albrecht was unemployed, making the family's monthly income low enough for welfare benefit eligibility.

However, a fraud investigation revealed that Jeffrey Albrecht had been working for a hauling company from April 2005 to December 2007.