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A woman accused of defrauding the Department of Social Protection of almost €60,000 has been remanded in custody at a hearing in Tralee District Court.
Samantha Cookes, of no fixed abode, was arrested outside of Tralee post office on Friday when she was due to collect a weekly disability allowance worth €232.
She was charged on two counts of fraud worth €464 before Judge David Waters, with further charges likely to be processed, according to gardaí.
She initially submitted a claim for Supplementary Welfare Allowance in February 2020 on the basis that she had Huntington’s disease.
In September 2021, Ms Cookes submitted a disability allowance claim which was signed by a doctor.
After obtaining her medical records under Section 52, gardaí discovered that the accused had told her doctor that she was adopted and therefore could not prove that she was previously diagnosed with Huntington’s and so the doctor signed her application in good faith.
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