Embezzlement and Misconduct of office certainly are not new terms in the realm of the nation’s federalized child support enforcement program, also referred in part as Title IV-D program. The Child Support Enforcement program continues to be plagued over the past several years of documented fraud, identity theft, embezzlement, bribery schemes, and more. Just take a look at the snapshot attached to this article, and know that this is hardly a comprehensive look at the problems that exist throughout the nation with this “free for all welfare program.”
Many of these stories are reported in local newspapers, regional publications, or localized news reports on various television stations, so they escape widespread national scrutiny. The fact remains that theft of records, fraud, embezzlement, bribery schemes, and more have been popping up from state to state which should lead federal authorities to review the guidelines of the program and reduce it to a more management front for needy families. Some initial/preliminary guidelines for changes in the program are listed at Nationwide Blueprint.
In them most current scheme, former clerk of the court Elizabeth Smith is still being investigated on possible misuse of child support enforcement funds that might have been diverted to county Drug Court, over which her husband, Manning Smith, presided according to Solicitor Duffie Stone. Needless to say Judge Manning Smith’s judgeship has been rescinded by South Carolina Supreme Court Justice Jean Toal ,days after his wife was indicted and resigned.
The charges so far, stemming from a grand jury indictment, are embezzling more than $23,500.00 from two public accounts to buy insurance policies for relatives and make payments on a home on Pawleys Island, of which Smith has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Initial charges were handed down on July 20, 2009.
This news has been widely reported in WALB-TV, Hilton Head Island Packet, WTOC, WMBF, and indirectly in Myrtle Beach Sun News. For more information on the Title IV-D program you can visit Nationwide Blueprint.
With the growing number of cases of widespread misuse of funds, it is only a matter of time before sweeping federal audits begin to protect the taxpayers and victims of a free-for-all welfare program gone out of control.
