County worker charged with ID theft, fraud for allegedly using EBT funds in Fresno

A former employee of Fresno County’s Department of Social Service has been charged with stealing nearly $100,000 in cash and food benefits from EBT recipient accounts.

The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office says Desiree Henriette Ortiz, 40, of Fresno used her position as a DSS employee in 2022 and 2023 to gain access to the recipients’ information, change passwords on their accounts and then take funds she then used for her own benefit. Reimbursement of those funds is believed to be $97,375.05.

Ortiz was charged with one count of computer access fraud and 13 counts of identity theft, one of those counts being for possession of information with intent to defraud.

She is scheduled to be arraigned on July 10.

If convicted of all charges, she faces a maximum sentence of 11 years and eight months in local custody, according to the DA’s office, whose public Integrity Unit is prosecuting the case.