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Karen Lyke was hired by the state to help people with disabilities receive job training and efficient educational benefits, but she ended up accomplishing quite the opposite. According to WSB-TV, Lyke created fake disability clients so that she could steal state benefits totaling over $1 million dollars. Every cent of the money was taken from state taxpayers over the course of four years. Officials were shocked that she was able to steal such a large quantity before getting caught.
“She was able to route these payments to herself for about four years. It’s absolutely staggering the amount she was able to pocket. And the fact is we don’t see something on this scale — thankfully — that often,” Inspector General Scott McAfee shared with WSB-TV.
So how did she get away with it?
While working for the state, Lyke would have family members sign documents detailing fake college names and fake disabilities. Rather than going to the institution to help the disabled receive educational benefits, the money would go directly to the dishonest individual who filed out the form, which would then go to Lyke. McAfee explained the purpose of the program that Lyke was exploiting.
“This is a program that’s supposed to protect our most vulnerable citizens in Georgia. It’s a great program that actually helps people get into college that might not be able to."
WSB-TV mentioned that Lyke no longer works for the state. She is to appear in court for these offenses and is expected to plead guilty on multiple charges encompassing fraud.