Chelsea mother gets jail time for defrauding welfare agency

AUGUSTA – A welfare fraud case that ended in a 180-day jail term for a Chelsea woman who cheated the state out of more than $10,000 was described by a state official as an embarrassment to her agency.

Melissa Gray, a 27-year-old mother, was sentenced Friday to three years, with all but 180 days suspended, for illegally accepting $10,362 in welfare payments.

Gray, who had pleaded guilty in District Court to a felony charge of theft by deception, was accused of failing to tell the state’s Bureau of Family Independence that she was accepting state aid and working part-time for that same agency.

The bureau director, Judith Williams, told Judge Courtland Perry that Gray’s fraud embarrassed the bureau.

“Her actions paint a false picture of welfare recipients in general,” said Williams.

“Her actions defraud the government and steal from the needy.”

At the sentencing hearing, Assistant Attorney General David M. Spencer said Gray lied on five different applications she signed under penalty of perjury.

“This clearly was not a mistake, not something that just happened. This was a fairly calculated attempt and it was pursued with some degree of energy,” the prosecutor said.

Spencer said Gray’s crime was a particularly serious breach of trust.

“She was working for the very bureau that administered the program she was cheating,” he said.

The theft was uncovered when Bureau of Labor wage printouts were cross-checked against welfare payments.

Defense counsel Walter McKee agreed that Gray’s three-year underlying sentence was appropriate, but sought to have it suspended in its entirety.

“She lied about her income and she received benefits when she shouldn’t have,” McKee said. “The fact she was working for the department at the time has gotten their ire up.”

He said Gray took the money to make life better for her daughter, who is now 6.

Gray told the judge she intends to pay back all the money.

“I want to apologize and get this behind me as fast as I can,” she said.

“I don’t want to go to jail.”