Welfare fraud in the fifth degree · as in force on May 31, 2026
§ 158.05 Welfare fraud in the fifth degree.
A person is guilty of welfare fraud in the fifth degree when he or she commits a fraudulent welfare act and thereby takes or obtains public assistance benefits.
Welfare fraud in the fifth degree is a class A misdemeanor.
A person commits fifth-degree welfare fraud by committing a fraudulent welfare act and thereby taking public assistance benefits. ★ It is a class A misdemeanor.
Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.
This provision appears in Volume 4 — The Court Clerk: Penal Law; Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Court Officer: Penal Law; Volume 3 — Your Career: Penal Law in Plain English.