Springfield police have arrested a woman accused of buying bottled water with state assistance funds, only to dump out the water and cash in the bottles for money.

The woman, 35, of Eugene, was arrested on a warrant Friday night for third-degree theft and failure to appear in an unrelated cases. She and a man in her company were both reported by police to the Oregon Department of Human Services Fraud Division for the bottled water activity.

Anyone who sees others doing the same is asked to call 1-888-372-8301.

According to Springfield police, an officer spotted two people emptying plastic water bottles onto the ground on Mohawk Boulevard and recognized the behavior as Electronic Benefits Transfer, or EBT, fraud. The couple had purchased cases of water with an Oregon Trail Card — state assistance funds — to dump out so that they could cash in the bottles for 10 cents each in the bottle return machine, police said. This would allow them to purchase items not approved on the state assistance program, which results in large waste and fraud, police said.

The woman admitted to police what the two were doing, and said she was going to use the money for gas, police said.