Lakewood welfare raids send some residents scrambling

Payton Guion | Asbury Park Press

LAKEWOOD - Early morning criminal raids by state and federal authorities Monday sent tremors through Lakewood as officials signaled that more arrests are impending in a massive investigation into welfare fraud.

In the last two days, hundreds of residents called township leaders asking how they can avoid arrest or get amnesty related to an alleged public-assistance fraud scheme that could stretch into the millions of dollars, according to one law enforcement with knowledge of the ongoing probes.

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That source, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said that dozens have also called Ocean County Social Services in Toms River to cancel their public assistance or update their income information.

Social Services didn't return calls seeking comment on Tuesday.

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Lakewood is the fastest-growing town in New Jersey and surpassed 100,000 residents earlier this year, according to the Census Bureau. In the town, 32 percent of people live in poverty, Census figures show. Lakewood's rapid population growth is fueled by a flourishing Orthodox Jewish community.

Duvi Honig, the CEO of the Lakewood-based Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, said that thousands of Jewish families in the town need the public assistance to get by and that some people are tempted to take more than they need.

"The pressure of the community overhead – especially the (cost of) private schooling – is unsustainable," he said about the Jewish community. "People are forced to find ways to bend the system."

Honig added that his organization "absolutely" does not condone public assistance fraud, and also called on the state to help those in the Orthodox community get off public assistance and become self-sufficient.

"I would like to think that the people in this town would wake up," said Tom Gatti, chairman of Lakewood's Senior Action Group, which represents the town's sizable senior community. "This isn't someone stealing bubblegum, this is big money."

Eight people were arrested Monday after FBI agents raided the Lakewood homes of four married couples, who have been charged with defrauding public assistance programs by more than $1.3 million in the past few years.

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Rabbi Zalmen Sorotzkin and his wife, Tzipporah, of Olive Court, have been charged with second-degree theft by deception for allegedly collecting $338,642 in Medicaid, food stamps, Section 8 housing subsidies and Supplemental Security Income, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.

Mordechai and Jocheved Breskin, of Blue Jay Way, face the same charges for allegedly collecting $585,662 in public assistance benefits they weren't entitled to, the prosecutor said in a statement.

Two other couples are facing federal charges after being arrested in the raids Monday. Shimon and Yocheved Nussbaum, of Hadassah Lane, allegedly underreported their incomes and failed to disclose money they received from a number of companies in order to collect Medicaid, Section 8 housing assistance and food stamps between 2011 and 2014, according to a federal complaint signed by FBI Special Agent Michael Farina.

The Nussbaums allegedly collected $178,762 in public assistance they weren't entitled to get.

Another couple, Mordechai and Rachel Sorotzkin, of Albert Avenue, are accused of receiving more than $96,000 in Medicaid funds they shouldn't have claimed, according to a federal complaint.

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The Nussbaums and Sorotzkins both face separate counts of conspiring to steal government funds, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's office. The conspiracy counts each carry a maximum potential penalty of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gain from the offense.

Authorities indicated that Monday's arrests by the FBI, Ocean County Prosecutor's Office and other agencies, were just the first in an investigation that's been ongoing for three years. Town leaders said they were troubled by the arrests and the prospect that more were on the horizon.

"It really bothers me when people take advantage of programs like this," Lakewood Mayor Ray Coles said. "I have a waiting list of Section 8 vouchers of maybe 2,000 families that really need it.

"I hate to see things like this."

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Payton Guion: 732-643-4245; pguion@app.com