Fresno St. players tied to welfare fraud

[alp227]

Source: Associated Press

FRESNO, Calif. -- As many as two dozen football players from Fresno State have been implicated in a welfare fraud investigation involving a county Department of Social Services worker accused of filing for false benefits for them and others.

It's the latest in a series of problems that have plagued the university's athletic department over the decades.

The social services eligibility specialist was arrested last month by an investigator with the Fresno County District Attorney's Office but has not been charged. University officials have declined to comment beyond a written statement, saying they don't want to impede the investigation.

"It's an ongoing investigation out of the DA's office. We don't comment on ongoing investigations, and that's what we're standing on," said Paul Ladwid, assistant athletic director, who was reached in Nebraska, where the Bulldogs are scheduled to play Saturday.

Read more: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/6949074/fresno-state-bulldogs-football-players-tied-welfare-fraud

---

They've got scholarships, why the need for welfare? Maybe it's about time that college athletes got a wage if their games are going to have million-dollar broadcasting contracts and generate profit for the NCAA.

[Brickbat]

1. Because you can't buy food for your family with scholarship.

But I dunno.

[walerosco]

2. Bullshit

How about those family member file for the welfare themselves. People making excuses for welfare fraud makes me sick.

[Brickbat]

3. .

.

[Melinda]

4. Read the article - the eligibility worker committed fraud, not the players, nor their families.

The worker at Social Services obtained the info of many Fresno residents - not just CSUF athletes - and then used that info to apply for benefits which were in turn obtained by the worker's girlfriend.

The athletes info was used fraudulently. Neither the athletes nor their families did anything wrong.

[Moosepoop]

7. I read the article, and here's what was in it:

The allegations involve members of the 2010 squad, and many are still on the team this year. The university said in its written statement that "violations of the Code of Conduct did occur and punitive actions have been levied upon a number of current student-athletes."

The athletes could face additional penalties once the investigation is complete.

School officials would not say how many implicated students are on the 2011 team, nor would they describe the scope of the punishment.

"Student-athletes were among the individuals that received benefits from this process, perhaps improperly," the university's written statement said.

It also said that ABC-30 TV has reported that the athletes are accused of receiving $39,267 in benefits.

The thing with the worker's girlfriend was a separate incident in which the worker obtained benefits for a guy who was incarcerated in the state prison, and the girlfriend used the card.

[SpiralHawk]

15. That worker was probably someone with Republicon Family Values

fits the Republicon pattern...

[ShockediSay]

8. & Millionaire Doctors perpetrating Medicare Fraud make me sick n/t

[DocMac]

5. Fraud and corruption

are massive and taking this country down. The big thieves (bankers for one) never even see a courtroom.

If we wage war on fraud and corruption like we do the drug war, we would have a decent country, and the Republicans would have their private prisons full.

[bertman]

6. A person I know who is on the inside of college athletics told me how many of the

'student athletes' are getting Pell grants that they use as supplemental income and that they never pay back.

I was taken aback when told about this but my friend just laughed and said, "That's how the system works. They basically get subsidized to play college sports by the taxpayers with no expectation of actually getting an education OR of paying the money back."

It's LONG PAST time for college athletics to be treated like a real feeder system for professional athletics. The system needs to be completely revamped, but there's a HUGE amount of $$$ being made by lots of people. Don't expect change anytime soon.

[Blue_Tires]

10. Actually, it's LONG past time for the NBA and NFL to stop being so goddamned cheap

and create their OWN minor league systems for developing talent instead of America's universities...

[PSzymeczek]

11. The NBA has had

a minor league system since 2001. It's called the NBA Developmental league. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Development_League

[Blue_Tires]

18. but they don't put any real money or effort in it...

that should be the prime place to develop player and coach talent for the next level, but it's an afterthought even for the peripheral, wing-and-a-prayer NBA hopefuls -- They would just as soon play overseas

[Lions_fan]

13. You took the words right out of my mouth

:thumbsup:

[rapmanej]

14. and on a different note

I may actually watch more sports if a relegation/promotion system were adopted.

The current franchise setup makes it rather boring.

[Blue_Tires]

19. i'm in favor of that, as well

would never happen, though

welcome to the site, btw

[EFerrari]

12. You don't pay grants back.

[bertman]

16. You're correct, EFerrari. In my haste to post I did not give the correct

explanation of how the Pell Grants are used --actually, abused. At the college this person used as an example, athletes are given scholarships for their sport, as is the case in general. One of the conditions of the scholarship being maintained is that the athletes adhere to certain rules and requirements relating to academics, personal behavior, following team rules, etc. Athletes who do not meet the academic requirements (pretty rare because there are enough professors who willingly give them passing grades just to keep them in school), or who violate school or team rules of behavior are penalized by having a percentage of their scholarship funds revoked. Of course, this affects how these "student-athletes" can afford to pay rent, buy clothes, party, etc. because many of them are living on the scholarship money. So, the athletes get the Pell grants to fill in as a supplemental stipend when their athletic scholarship money is reduced due to disciplinary reasons.

The bottom line is that the Pell grants are not being used for getting an education, but for keeping an athlete in school so he can boost the school's athletic program's status.

[EFerrari]

17. I used to teach freshman English to these people at Cal

and have to report, the water polo team hit their books and helped each other with their homework. But the kids in football were under a lot of pressure and always seemed distracted. How they managed to stay in school at all, I have no idea. Being a freshman is hard enough without all of that. It's not surprising that their behavior goes south, imo.

[sulphurdunn]

9. College athletes

should meet the same academic standards for financial aid and scholarships as any other students. Maybe, there should be majors for individual sports. You could spend 4 or 5 years to earn a BF (Bachelor of Football) degree or something like that, after which you either get hired by the NFL or hit the streets like everybody else. Of course, there would be no reason to prohibit a double major for student athletes who have an interest in an academic major too. For instance, Aeronautical engineering might be a good second major for quarterbacks.