When last we left Juanita Myrick, the meticulous bureaucrat and longtime veteran of the Cuyahoga County Department of Employment and Family Services had been indicted for stealing $864,000 in welfare checks from the agency.
In a marathon scam that escaped the county’s notice for a whopping 13 years, Myrick would doctor the files of former welfare clients, switching their information on the computer so that she got the checks instead of them. She even invented clients—some of whom lived in Germany [“The Perfect Scam,” June 13]. All the while, she kept getting promoted up the agency’s food chain.
It was a clever scheme, and won Myrick a lengthy list of fraud and theft charges from the county prosecutor’s office. This week, she finally pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
We’re assuming the computers don’t work as well in the slam, so maybe this time Myrick won’t get promoted as fast. —Lisa Rab
This article appears in Apr 30 – May 6, 2008.
This is fuckin bogus thats my friends mom && your disrespecting her in a way that only a kid will she her ass , she has nervous break downs because of you people , this is sick you people have no hearts and this is coming from a 14 year old , are you serious how would you like it if that were your mom , thats not fair , your only doing it for the money freakin idiots
Tell you what, LaShay, first learn proper grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. Then MAYBE we would respect what you have to say. Then, stop talking like a gang member wannabe and display some civility and decorum (sorry, too many syllables?). So what are you saying, that because this flim flam of a woman is your mother’s friend, she’s not guilty of these crimes against the county taxpayers?! And why the hell does she deserve respect from anyone? She’s a felon! And that’s mainly because the county watchdogs apparently were unconscious for all those years!
Wow Edward, way to go. All this 14 year old is asking that the media take it easy on their comments, and you take get all racist (i can read between the lines). Do you feel good now, and all of you that agreed. Sick, stupid and just no class.
she is a felon and she got caught. end of story.i wonder if she has to pay anything back or is all the money gone. who paid for her defense?
But the people who need this money is out of luck
Before i seem like the bad guy for my comments or I missed the point, let me just say “YES she needs to be in jail, but there’s no reason Edward had to go after that young girl just for giving her opinion about her friend, who is having a hard time dealing with her mothers crime. The gangbanger comment was unnecessary and overall his peresonal attack. I’m just sick of people hinding behind their keyboards to spew hate.
By the way Chicho, I’m not hiding behind any keyboard. You know my first name and you know my last name. I am not obliged to anyone to be politically correct for the sake of political correctness, and I suspect that for the most part, my comments on these forums represent the silent majority that values law and order, following the rules, working hard for your money and acting in a civil manner. I don’t know why you feel my comment was racist (although let’s face it, society isn’t exactly overun with caucasian neighborhood gangs), and maybe where you come from it’s acceptable for a 14 year old girl to drop an ‘F’ bomb in a public forum, but where I come from it’s a display of poor taste. And I would have criticized her punctuation, grammar and sentence structure even if she was an 80 year old priest. And your opinion of my post quite possibly might be in the minority as I so far received 20 likes and only 2 dislikes. Once again, the silent majority.
Edward has entirely to much time on his hands.
really the issue is she got caught.i do not care about race . a thief is a thief.who paid for her defence.
You Go Edward !!!!!!! signed-Silent Majority
I have to agree with Edward’s point, but the condescending remarks were a bit much in my opinion. Although I do have to say that if I was your mother LaShay, I would beat you half to death for that language.
The fact is, that woman stole from the taxpayers for years and must deal with the consequences. I’m sorry her daughter must go through this ordeal, but the fault lies with her mother and not the reporters or general public.
I do have a question though about the comment “your only doing it for the money freakin idiots” If you mean the reporters, they are just doing their jobs. No one has anything to gain from this except that she won’t be stealing any more tax payer money so it can go to those families in need.
Thanks for bringing that up, DeeDee. I was also perplexed by her allegation that reporting the facts was supposed to be a money-making venture in some way. I just forgot to mention it in my original post.
A couple of points…
First of all the woman is a criminal, a convicted felon who did not care how her greed and selfishness affected others. To defend such an individual based solely on emotion and fallacious logic makes one appear ignorant, as does the lack of writing skills. To admit one is fourteen yet write at a third grade level is shameful to say the least. Any individual doing so does not need to be coddled, they need a swift kick in the…..
Secondly, how this was allowed to continue for so long shows just how corrupt our Democratically run county is. Yet to hear a leftist tell it, Conservatives are the root of all evil… Really?
Lastly, this is precisely why there is such a backlash against government funded social programs. The rampant fraud and corruption only serves to punish those truly deserving of aid.
Aye doe , dont be blowing down on my sister Lashay doe like word anyway she has a point and no one is going to beat no body half nothing because you not fuckin stupid enough , so watch who the fuck your talking to
Xavasia, really?
Lol I Remember Reading This 3 Years Ago ! This Made Me Cry Because This Is My Mother ! All The Hurtful Comments About Her Made It Hurtful For Me. Ik She Made A Mistake ! Everybody Makes Mistakes ! But I Don’t Think Its Cool Tew Sentence Her 20 Years For It. I’m Not Mad At The People For Their Opinion But I Am Kinda Hurt ! I Love LaShay For Sticking Up For Me Period. I Finally Can Look At This Without Crying Or Getting Angry ! But Don’t Bash Me About It.