A Fort Dodge woman who admitted she lied on government application forms and later received thousands of dollars in food stamps, has been ordered by a judge to pay those funds back, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa.

Jessica Martinez-Roque, 34, received the sentence Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Sioux City.

United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand sentenced Martinez-Roque to time served and ordered her to make $34,656 in restitution to the Iowa Department of Human Services.

She must also serve a three-year term of supervised release.

Martinez-Roque had previously entered a guilty plea to one count of theft of government funds.

In a plea agreement, Martinez-Roque admitted that between about May 1, 2014, and January 31, 2019, she knowingly lied on application forms to acquire Supplemental Nutrition Program funds, to which she knew she was not entitled.

Those funds totaled $34,656.

Martinez-Roque obtained the funds by knowingly failing to report household income, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

SNAP, formerly Food Stamps, is a federally funded program, administered by the states, that assists households in purchasing food.

Households must meet income, resource, and various non-financial eligibility criteria in order to qualify for said benefits.

The amount of monthly assistance is dependent upon reported income and the number of individuals within the household.

Martinez-Roque reported on her Iowa Department of Human Services applications and review/recertification eligibility documents that she was not employed or only worked short periods of time, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

She failed to report the father of her three children was living in the home and working full-time, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported.

Properly reporting his income would have made her household ineligible for benefits.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin C. Fletcher. It was investigated by the United States Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, the Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals.