I-Team: Attleboro Man Receives Stranger's Welfare Benefits, Claims State Ignored His Calls
BOSTON (CBS) - The mysterious mail started arriving at Stephen Gainer's home late last year.
The correspondence was addressed to a complete stranger. At first, Gainer tossed them in the trash, thinking the post office had made a mistake.
But when the mail continued arriving at the Attleboro condominium he'd owned since 2008, Gainer took a closer look. He realized it was all coming from state agencies that provide assistance to needy families.
The mail included healthcare statements from MassHealth and letters from the Department of Transitional Assistance. There were even a couple of checks from the government, Gainer said.
"And I started going, 'Wait a minute. There is something wrong here.' That's when I started calling the fraud hotline," he told the I-Team.
Gainer was instructed to write, "return to sender" on the envelopes. He said he sent several pieces of mail back to the post office, including the checks.
But after several calls, and several months, the mail just kept coming. During the phone calls to the fraud hotline and other state employees, Gainer said nobody ever wanted to hear details.
"They just wanted to get me off the phone as fast as humanly possible," he said.
At one point in June, Gainer grew so concerned that he would somehow get blamed for the mistake, he filed a precautionary report with the Attleboro Police Department.
"Reporting party believes someone may be trying to take advantage of the system," the police report said.
Gainer eventually contacted Rep. Paul Heroux of Attleboro to see if the state lawmaker could assist with the dilemma.
"He was just exasperated," Heroux told the I-Team. "It is the sort of thing that kind of undermines the confidence people have in their government."
Heroux intervened with Gainer's situation and the mail has now finally stopped. But with millions in welfare fraud and waste identified every year, the lawmaker wondered why it seemed his constituent's concerns fell on deaf ears.
"Why was nothing done? Why did this continue even when he called the fraud hotline? That's a problem," Heroux said.
The other problem: Why did the benefits start arriving at Gainer's home in the first place?
The I-Team tracked down the intended recipient outside his job in Cranston, Rhode Island. Because he has not been charged with any wrongdoing, WBZ is not identifying him.
When asked about the benefits, the man did not provide many answers, but denied he had done anything wrong.
"I don't know anything about that. I'm not getting any benefits in Massachusetts," he said.
However, housing court documents the I-Team uncovered include a written affidavit from the man, indicating he has lived in Rhode Island since at least May 2012.
Almost three years later, a MassHealth statement Gainer provided to the I-Team shows taxpayers picked up the tab for the man's dental visit in March 2015.
Citing privacy reasons, state officials told the I-Team they could not discuss the case and whether the man should or should not have received benefits. They also would not disclose why the mail suddenly started arriving at Gainer's home more than seven years after he bought it.
"We have strict policies and procedures in place to verify the address of a recipient. Every effort is made to ensure the most up-to-date information is on file, but sometimes when people move, they neglect to update us," Tom Mills, a DTA spokesman, wrote to the I-Team.
Mills added that all calls received by DTA employees are taken seriously and addressed accordingly.
As a policy, calls to the fraud hotline are anonymous, so employees are no allowed to provide updates to callers or discuss many details, Mills said.
Gainer said he never expected to receive any updates about the situation. He just figured nothing had been done because the mail kept coming.
The entire experience has diminished his faith in the system.
"As a taxpayer, this is my money. And as a citizen, I couldn't get the government to care," Gainer said.
Ryan Kath can be reached at rkath@cbs.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or connect on Facebook.