Andy Harris

Republican Congressman Andy Harris says he’s still waiting for Gov. Wes Moore to deliver the results of an investigation into an alleged food benefits scheme earlier this year.

“I want to know who was fired for even thinking of that kind of scheme,” Harris told Spotlight on Maryland.

Two former DHS employees told Spotlight in January that high-ranking officials in Maryland’s Department of Human Services discussed a scheme involving the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps. One of the employees, a former senior official, said their superiors allegedly brainstormed how to exploit a loophole in federal law, where states with high error rates could delay millions of dollars in federal penalties, but the official didn’t know if the scheme was implemented after their termination.

“I raised concerns as soon as I heard of this scheme,” the former senior official said at the time. “I thought it was illegal When errors — payment errors — are found, they’re to be corrected, without question. And this kind of conduct, even in the planning stages, is what I believe to be suborning fraud, which is leadership encouraging or enabling others to allow fraudulent outcomes.”

No one in state government denied the allegations when asked for comment before Spotlight’s first story was published. Following publication, Department of Human Services spokesperson Ben Shnider said in an email, "the notion that DHS employees were directed to do anything other than continue efforts to drive down the SNAP Payment Error Rate is patently false.” But Spotlight did not report that DHS employees were directed to maintain a high error rate, and DHS did not deny that the reported discussions and planning took place.

Then, in an interview with FOX45’s Mikenzie Frost later that week, Moore appeared to deny the whistleblower allegations.

“We have actually uncovered the fact that the allegations that were being made, those things were not happening,” Moore said.

Moore said there was an investigation that would be made public, but his office never provided it.

Moore’s comments sparked the following response from the whistleblower at the time: “I will say with no small amount of disheartened sadness that the governor's claim that a credible investigation occurred is both disingenuous and unbelievable.”

This week, DHS spokesperson Lilly Price told Spotlight in an email, “The premise of this reporting remains fundamentally inaccurate, as does the notion that DHS did anything other than continue efforts to drive down Maryland’s SNAP Payment Error Rate. Our priority is to continue to bring the error rate down as quickly as we can by doing the work correctly and ensuring the people who are eligible for SNAP receive the benefits they’re eligible for. That’s what we’re laser-focused on.”

Asked if DHS is still not denying that the reported SNAP scheme discussions took place, Price did not respond.

No investigation made public

Spotlight asked the governor and his office multiple times for the results of his investigation. In one instance, Spotlight reporter Gary Collins questioned him in Annapolis.

“I think we’ve seen the results the results of that when I first became the governor, Maryland had the second-highest SNAP error rate in the entire country that since I’ve become the governor we are now down 60 percent,” Moore said.

“So, governor, an investigation didn’t take place then, is what you’re saying?” Collins asked.

Moore responded, “I think the results show that any type of accusation that there was an artificially high manipulation is not accurate because it didn’t happen.”

Asked about the alleged scheme in mid-January, Moore’s press secretary Ammar Moussa told Spotlight, "Whatever scheme was discussed, it was never implemented." Asked if there was a scheme that was discussed, he said, "That’s a question for DHS."

“I mean, look, if you know that a scheme was discussed by people in your administration, I want to know who was fired for even thinking of that kind of scheme, because that scheme defrauds the federal government,” Harris told Spotlight last week. “I think the federal government should know if that occurs. And again, I get it. It was not implemented. It shouldn't even have been thought of.”

The governor’s office did not respond to further questions this week about whether they have any information about any investigations into the alleged SNAP scheme.

“The governor promised to release the results of his investigation into it,” Harris said. “And as far as I know, there's been no good explanation for what those ... whistleblowers have claimed.”

Ninth-highest error rate

New data shows Maryland now ranks ninth highest in the nation on payment errors. DHS noted they reduced the rate by nearly two-thirds since 2022, and that they’ve hired dozens of staff, implemented training and launched partnerships for better data analysis.

But the state’s error rate is still high enough to incur costly penalties if there’s no significant change next year.

“When states don't reduce their improper payments, it really can undermine public trust in federal programs and make it difficult for those programs to achieve their goals,” said Kathryn Larin, a director in the Education, Workforce, and Income Security team for the U.S. Government Accountability Office. “If agencies, you know, care about their program, they should care about having low improper payment rates.”

The state’s error rates for fiscal year 2026 – the time period when the scheme allegedly was discussed – won’t be published until next year.

Have a news tip? Contact Brooke Conrad at [email protected] or 443-578-2126, or contact the Spotlight team at [email protected] or 410-467-4670. Spotlight on Maryland is a joint venture by The Baltimore Sun, FOX45 News and WJLA in Washington, D.C.