CLARION — A Clarion woman was ordered in federal court Monday to repay more than $45,000 in restitution to the Iowa Department of Human Services and the Social Security Administration after fraudulently claiming benefits over three years, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa.

Aracely Batres-Alonzo, 26, was sentenced to time served, two days, after pleading guilty in October 2019 to two counts of theft of U.S. government funds through the Supplemental Nutrion Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps) and Social Security Income.

From January 2016 to May 2019, she used $43,346 in SNAP benefits and Family Investment Program funds after fraudulently claiming that she and her spouse were not employed. Investigation showed that she had worked for several different companies since 2015, and that her spouse worked under an assumed name. The unreported income would have made her household ineligible for benefits.

According to her guilty plea, she also concealed information from the Social Security Administration in her capacity as her minor child’s payee when she failed to report her full household income. Social Security overpaid her $1,829 between April 2018 and March 2019.