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DSS case worker charged with stealing $80,000 in assistant payments

By Lightning Reports, Published: June 30, 2021

A former Henderson County social services caseworker was charged last week with stealing more than $80,000 by switching Medicaid assistance payments to her own bank account when a family became ineligible for the cash, according to arrest warrants.

Ryan Marie Dunlap, 43, of Lynwood Circle, faces 24 felony charges in connection with the scheme, which continued for four years, according to the arrest warrants. Dunlap, an income maintenance case worker, was hired by the county DSS on Sept. 23, 2013, and resigned on Oct. 18, 2019, county officials said in response to a public records request.

In 2019, Dunlap's co-workers discovered discrepancies in her work and called for the assistance of local law enforcement. Later, at the request of local officials, Raleigh-based investigators with the Medicaid fraud unit of the SBI and the state Department of Justice took on the case.

"The County is not aware of anyone involved in this matter other than the former employee charged," the county's news release said. "The County fully participated in the investigation, but is unable to provide further information at this time, as this is an on-going investigation."

Dunlap is charged with 12 counts of using a government computer to obtain the money and 12 counts of obtaining the cash through false pretense. Amounts she allegedly diverted from a no-longer eligible DSS client to her own State Employees Credit Union account ranged from $247 to $57,654. When a recipient was due to be dropped from eligibility, Dunlap changed the account's bank routing information to her own account and kept the eligibility intact, arrests records say. The thefts took place from 2015 through 2019, according to warrants obtained by Medicaid fraud investigators Lolita B. Howell of the SBI and Elexa Soriano of the N.C. Justice Department.