Former Job and Family Services employee gets house arrest for tampering with records

Staff report

WARREN

A former employee at Trumbull County Job and Family Services was sentenced to five years’ probation and 30 days’ house arrest Monday after pleading guilty to tampering with records at work.

Amy M. Clauss, 43, of Gretchen Drive, pleaded guilty in August before Judge Peter Kontos of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to tampering with records at her job as an eligibility referral specialist for the agency that provides assistance to low-income people.

Clauss resigned the job in May 2017 after an internal investigation found that the 16-year employee had worked on cases involving six family members and four Facebook friends without authorization.

The investigation also found that her work on the cases resulted in 19 overpayments of benefits totaling $6,275, according to JFS documents.

The investigation found problems with cases Clauss handled in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and found overpayment errors of $6,275 to clients who were Clauss family members or Facebook friends. Among the 19 cases were ones that involved a nephew, brother-in-law and niece.

During Monday’s sentencing hearing, Clauss was ordered to pay restitution of $11,000, have no future employment with any government agency and perform 200 hours of community service.

Attempts to reach Gina Buccino Arnaut, assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, to find out how the $11,000 in restitution was determined, were unsuccessful.

In exchange for Clauss’ guilty plea to tampering with records, Buccino Arnaut agreed to drop two other charges – forgery and theft in office.

An investigation of Clauss’ cases began after JFS received a phone call alleging misconduct.