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Arizona legislator Cecilia Velasquez sentenced to probation in food stamp case

Posted at 10:01 AM, Dec 01, 2016
and last updated 2016-12-01 13:52:38-05

State Rep. Cecilia Velasquez was sentenced Friday to one year of probation for her guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge of unlawfully using food stamps.

The one-term Democrat from Litchfield Park also was ordered to serve 100 hours of community service.

She was accused of fraudulently obtaining $1,726 in benefits.

Her lawyer says she has already paid back the money to the state.

Officials have said Velasquez falsely claimed she had two dependents, gave a false address and allowed two other people to use her food stamp benefit card.

Her attorney has said there was only one dependent at issue, a daughter who Hernandez falsely claimed still lived with her.

She dropped her re-election bid after being indicted.