Welfare Queens? This "KING" Tops the Queens!

Not sure if this is Lake, Porter or what area, but wow, "New Chicago," for welfare queens, this guy topped all the queens!

How could this have happened...????

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http://posttrib.suntimes.com/5409365-537/new-chicago-bar-owner-charged-with-forgery-welfare-fraud.html

A New Chicago bar owner has been charged in Lake Superior Court with three counts of forgery and welfare fraud after an Indiana State Excise Police investigation found that he was using three different welfare benefit cards to make purchases at a food service store.

Peter C. Kmetz, 51, of the Valparaiso area, is free on $3,000 cash bond in the case.

On Dec. 31, excise officers conducting an inspection of the Waterfront Lounge found four Hoosier Works EBT cards in the cash register. Each card had an attached piece of paper with the PIN for that card, issued by the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration.

A witness told police Kmetz had instructed bartenders at the Waterfront Lounge, 2970 Dekalb Street, to purchase Hoosier Works electronic benefit cards for the lounge at a rate of
50 cents on the dollar, court records state.

One of the bartenders told police if someone wanted to sell EBT card benefits, she was instructed to verify the card balance, take 50 percent of that amount from the cash register and pay the individual in cash. The bartenders then were to put the EBT card and the PIN written on a piece of paper in the cash register.

Police obtained video surveillance from Gordon Food Service in Merrillville in which Kmetz is seen “purchasing items typically found in restaurants or bar kitchens” and paying for them with different EBT cards, court records state. The purchases were made on Dec. 6, Dec. 14 and Dec. 14, the probable cause affidavit states.

The bar still is open, however, pending the completion of the investigation by the excise police, which Cleveland said should be wrapped up sometime this week.