FRANKFORT, Ky. (Nov. 25, 2003)-A Cabinet for Families and Children caseworker in Monroe County and a woman accused of acting as his accomplice have been charged with defrauding the state of more than $429,000-most of it money intended to help people too disabled or feeble to live on their own.

Officers from the special investigations division of the Attorney General’s Office arrested Thomas R. Bradshaw, 39, and Margaret M. Moran, 45, at their home in Tompkinsville today. They were brought to the Franklin County Jail, where they will be held without bond pending their arraignment in Franklin District Court, said Paul Gilbert, lead investigator in the case.

Officers searched Bradshaw’s home and office and seized Bradshaw’s office computer, as well as check stubs and checks, Gilbert said.

Gilbert said Bradshaw, a family support specialist in the Cabinet’s Tompkinsville office, will be charged with theft by unlawful taking and Moran will be charged with receiving stolen property. Both charges are class D felonies, punishable by one to five years in prison.

Cabinet officials say that, between Sept. 29, 1998, and Nov. 19 of this year, Bradshaw fraudulently issued 476 checks, in amounts of $944 or less each, to benefit himself or Moran. Most of the checks, which totaled $429,248, were drawn on State Supplementation funds and the rest on the Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program (K-TAP).

State Supplementation helps pay for the care and lodging of persons who for physical reasons cannot live independently but do not require nursing care. K-TAP is Kentucky’s version of the federal welfare program.

The apparent theft came to light Nov. 4, when bank personnel contacted a Cabinet field service office in Monroe County to ask questions about some of the checks. The Cabinet reported the matter to the Attorney General’s Office.

A Cabinet employee since October 1989, Bradshaw had been a caseworker in Warren County and Cumberland County before joining the staff in Monroe County in December 1996. Cabinet officials described Moran as Bradshaw’s paramour.

Cabinet Secretary Viola Miller called the case "particularly egregious" and vowed to pursue "all possible legal remedies" to punish those responsible and recover as much as possible of the amounts stolen.

Theft of benefits on such a scale undermines "the public’s faith in the integrity of public assistance systems," Miller said. She said it victimizes both taxpayers and "the most vulnerable, most needy of our citizens."

The Cabinet is pursuing an investigation into whether Bradshaw improperly obtained a supervisor’s password or a supervisor acted in collusion with him. All the fraudulent checks were authorized as addressing "special circumstances"-a payment category that requires a supervisor’s review and approval.

To record the necessary approval on the Cabinet’s computerized payment system, a supervisor must enter his or her password, which must be changed every 30 days. Every supervisor in a benefit program must annually review and sign a security agreement that forbids use of a password by anyone other than the person to whom it is issued.

Miller and Mark Bengel, the Cabinet’s director of technology services, have issued directives reinforcing the password policy.

The Cabinet is conducting an internal review of its security procedures. In addition, Miller said the Cabinet would ask the state auditor’s office to conduct a "targeted audit" to identify any gaps in security that might have contributed to the kind of fraud Bradshaw apparently committed.