A state public assistance worker suspected of siphoning off nearly three-quarters of a million dollars from state coffers over five years has been jailed on theft and fraud charges.
Chona Agtarap, 35, a case evaluator based in Anchorage who spent weekends at her home in Kodiak, is being held on $50,000 bail.
When confronted by Alaska State Troopers this week, she admitted she authorized payments to herself and cashed or deposited the checks, according to a document filed in court Friday.
The scheme began to unravel when a research analyst with the state Department of Health and Social Services last week noticed irregular state payments involving several closed public assistance accounts, according to the document.
The department found at least 150 irregular payments from April 2, 2005, through this month, prosecutors say in the court filing. Treasury warrants -- essentially state checks authorized electronically -- made payable to C. Aguinaldo were then sent to the same P. O. Box in Kodiak, according to troopers and prosecutors.
The court document says all the irregular payments over the past 12 months were authorized by someone using the user ID and password assigned to Chona Aguinaldo Agtarap. All of the money was put into financial accounts owned or co-owned by Agtarap, prosecutors say.
The department alerted troopers on Monday that Agtarap appeared to have stolen $724,000 over five years. Troopers are still trying to verify exactly how much since the passwords are changed periodically.
"Most of it's gone," said Sgt. Derek DeGraaf, supervisor of the Alaska Bureau of Investigation's technical crime unit. The lead investigator on the case, Trooper Ramin Dunford, pieced together what happened. Other troopers and federal agents also worked the case.
Investigators flew to Juneau on Tuesday to interview state employees and obtain computer logs for suspicious transactions. Troopers obtained search warrants to freeze Agtarap's bank accounts and to seize property purchased with state money.
Dunford went to Agtarap's office in the Frontier Building in Midtown Anchorage on Wednesday and interviewed her for a couple of hours, DeGraaf said. She was arrested Thursday.
Agtarap now is charged with three felonies: theft, fraudulent use of an access device, and scheme to defraud.
Also on Thursday, troopers seized a 2010 Nissan Armada, a 2008 Nissan Pathfinder, three four-wheelers, a Glastron boat, firearms, home electronics and furniture from Agtarap's home in Kodiak. All the property was bought with stolen money, troopers said. Troopers had to hire movers to collect it all.
Officials with the Department of Health and Social Services haven't addressed why it took so long for the suspected fraud to be discovered but said it appears Agtarap was working alone. No one missed out on legitimate public assistance payments as a result of the scheme, officials said.
The department said in a written statement Friday that it is fully cooperating with authorities.
"I want to assure the people of Alaska that this incident is not representative of the honest, hard work that our 3,600 department employees do every day for Alaskans in need," Commissioner William Hogan said.
Troopers say Agtarap appears to have stumbled upon a flaw involving closed public assistance accounts. Sometimes those accounts are temporarily reopened for payment, DeGraaf said.
"It's all done electronically," DeGraaf said. "So she's not personally writing herself a check, but she was able to go in and have a check issued to someone who appeared to be on a closed, legitimate account."
She kept the amount of each check under $5,000, so that it would not trigger a higher-level review, DeGraaf said.
Agtarap began working for the state Division of Public Assistance in January 2003, making $18.65 an hour as a part-time eligibility technician. The next year, she became full-time. At the time of her arrest, she was making $48,516 as an eligibility technician III, according to the state Division of Personnel.
Troopers say Agtarap was working as a regional case reviewer, a position responsible for checking public assistance cases for accuracy and completeness.
At her first court appearance Friday afternoon, Agtarap told a judge she couldn't afford an attorney. She wore a yellow jailhouse uniform, with a pink T-shirt underneath. Her hair is long, dark and straight.
"What was your total income for the last year?" District Court Judge Nancy Nolan asked.
"When I was working for the state of Alaska?" Agtarap answered. "It was -- I can't remember."
Nolan asked whether she had just been terminated from her state job. Agtarap answered that she was supposed to meet with managers about her employment status on Friday. But instead she was in jail.
A man and woman in the front row of the courtroom, inside the Anchorage jail, said they were there for her case, but didn't want to say more. The man asked the judge if Agtarap could make bail.
Nolan said the court would have to approve a third-party custodian first.
Nolan appointed a public defender to represent Agtarap until there's a complete review of whether she can afford an attorney.
By LISA DEMER
ldemer@adn.com