CONCORD — A 32-year-old Nashua woman is awaiting a March sentencing in federal court after pleading guilty to making false statements in order to obtain $64,400 in benefits to which she wasn’t entitled, according to U.S. Attorney for New Hampshire Jane Young.

Kaylie Esquivel Arizmendi, a Nashua resident whose street address wasn’t provided, was receiving Supplemental Nutritional Agricultural (SNAP) benefits, commonly known as food stamps, as well as Medicaid benefits, according to court documents and statements made in federal court in Concord.

Arizmendi is scheduled for sentencing on March 13.

In New Hampshire, eligibility for food stamp and Medicaid program is tied to household resources, which means applicants are required to provide truthful information to the state Department of Health and Human Services, and to notify the state in timely fashion if the composition or income in their household changes.

Arizmendi is accused of receiving benefits fraudulently beginning more than seven years ago, less than two weeks after she married her spouse in February 2015, according to the statement.

When she applied to DHHS in March for food stamps and Medicaid benefits, Arizmendi claimed, under penalty of perjury, that she was unmarried.

From then until November 2020, Arizmendi continued to falsely represent to the state that she was unmarried, and claimed she and her spouse had no personal relationship to one another.

In one instance, Arizmendi provided a fraudulent “rental verification request” that identified her spouse as a “landlord, manager or housing official.”

Had Arizmendi truthfully disclosed her marital status, her spouse’s income would have reduced Arizmendi’s eligibility for benefits.

The case was investigated by DHHS officials, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of the Inspector General and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Inspector General.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander S. Chen.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

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