Scranton’s former top economic development official forged pay stubs and lied about her city pay to get more than $18,000 in food stamps and other benefits meant for poor people, a state agent charges.
Selina Andiappan, 32, of Scranton, co-owns her West Scranton home with a man who lived with her. She didn’t report the man’s income when applying for benefits either as required, according to an arrest affidavit. The man is not charged.
Andiappan resigned Feb. 1, city spokesman Christopher Hughes said in an email. She resigned hours after city officials learned of the investigation, city Solicitor Jessica Eskra said in a statement.
Eskra said the city fully cooperated with the state Inspector General’s Office, whose agent filed the charges. The city terminated her access to City Hall and its technology.
“The allegations against this individual are serious, and, if true, clearly do not align with the standards we demand of our public employees,” Eskra said. “We have no reason to believe that the alleged misconduct occurred through her official capacity or that the city was impacted in any way, financially or otherwise.”
Andiappan began working for the city May 24, 2022, as a redevelopment specialist with a salary of $41,200 a year, according to the affidavit.
When she applied for federal food stamps on Dec. 13, 2021, she reported “her household consisted of herself and her three children with no household income.”
That wasn’t true, special agent Moriah A. Harding wrote in the affidavit. Between Aug. 10, 2021, and June 7, 2022, Andiappan earned $30,073 from a software company she worked for.
That brought her $4,584 in undeserved food stamps, according to the affidavit.
Her benefits ended a week after she went to work for the city, according to the affidavit.
On Oct. 24, 2022, she re-applied for food stamps and applied for help paying water bills. She reported herself and her children in her household and her city pay and was approved for both benefits.
On March 30, 2023, she re-applied again for food stamps and applied for help paying heating bills, but added her home’s co-owner as part of the household. She only reported income from her city job and did the same thing when she applied for food stamps on Sept. 28, 2023, and heating help on Oct. 26, 2023.
Both applications reflected her starting city salary, but by then she was earning more. She got a raise to $65,000 a year on June 19, 2023, when she became executive director of the city Office of Economic Development. She began earning $2,500 every two weeks instead of $1,585.
Because she underreported her pay Sept. 28, 2023, she received an overpayment of $1,590 in food stamps between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2023 and an overpayment of $1,387 in heating help between Nov. 1, 2023, and Feb. 26, 2024.
As of Jan. 1, she was earning $75,500 a year.
Andiappan tried to prove she was still earning her starting salary by submitting pay stubs from Sept. 15 and 29 in 2023, both with altered dates and amounts, according to the arrest affidavit. City officials confirmed to Harding the pay stubs were altered.
The special agent also found the man who lived with Andiappan had a job that listed his address as of Jan. 10, 2020, as the West Scranton home. He and Andiappan bought the home on Oct. 9, 2020.
The man earned more than $60,000 in pay from his job between Dec. 14, 2021, and Feb. 29, 2023, and $22,592 from a safety training company he began operating on Feb. 21, 2023.
When Andiappan applied for benefts in March 2023, she reported none of the man’s income. That allowed her to illegally collect $10,250 in food stamps, $665 in water bill help and $1,237 in heating bill help, according to the affidavit.
Andiappan was charged Monday with two counts of conspiracy to make false statements to obtain the benefits and two counts of forgery.
She was released on $50,000 unsecured bail. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 9 at 9 a.m.
