Offices Open for Emergency Food Stamps : Services: Suspected fraud in Los Angeles County delayed timely aid to local earthquake victims, but applications are now being taken. Screening is tight, however.

After a lengthy delay prompted by fraud problems in Los Angeles County, Ventura County welfare workers began accepting applications Monday from local earthquake victims for emergency food stamp vouchers.

Low-income county residents who suffered losses during the Jan. 17 quake may apply for 10 days at newly opened offices in Simi Valley and Fillmore and one to open soon in Piru, said Helen Reburn, deputy director of the county’s Department of Public Social Services.

Screening for the emergency food program is tight in response to suspected widespread fraud in Los Angeles County, Reburn said. Early reports of fraud, in fact, delayed federal approval of this county’s Jan. 25 application for emergency food stamps, she said.

“That slowed down the procedures and resulted in several conference calls with state and federal officials to work out all the problems,” Reburn said.

As implemented Monday, Ventura County’s program requires a 72-hour waiting period before stamps are distributed, a mandate now re-established in Los Angeles County.

The program here also adds requirements unique to this county. It specifies that only residents of the hard-hit Fillmore, Simi Valley and Piru areas may apply. And it requires thorough checks of the applicants’ identities, places of residence and income eligibility--and uses computer hookups with a variety of agencies to verify information, Reburn said. Concerned that Los Angeles County residents might apply here, officials will cross-check with that county’s welfare agency to see if applicants have also applied there, she said.

“We’re trying to ensure that Ventura County residents who suffered damage or loss receive the food assistance for which they are entitled, but that nobody else does,” Reburn said.

Amid sporadic but heavy rains, about 80 applicants had filtered through the Simi Valley and Fillmore application centers by late afternoon.

“This is the first day, and the torrential downpour has something to do with it,” Reburn said of the small turnout.

*

She said crowds are expected today at application centers at the First Assembly of God Church at 703 Central Ave. in Fillmore and the East Valley Courthouse at 3855-F Alamo St. in Simi Valley. The centers are open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

About a dozen applicants showed up in Fillmore, where 11 welfare workers staffed a makeshift office. Two welfare fraud investigators were present to question those suspected of not living in the area or whose damage claims seemed far-fetched, Reburn said.

Applicants who turned out Monday welcomed the aid and said their need is real.

“A friend told me about this. She knew we were really hurting,” said Lisa Sparks, 27, who lives with husband Joe and two children in nearby Rancho Camulos.

The family’s food supply spoiled in the days after the earthquake, when their power went out and damage kept them from entering their house to salvage perishables.

“We used to charge our food at the market (in Piru), but now they’re going to tear it down,” said Joe Sparks, 34. “We just need a little something to get us by for now.”

At the newly opened Simi Valley center, Holly, a mother of four, said the assistance would replace food lost during the quake.

“We’ve had friends and relatives bringing us care packages, living off Cheerios, hot dogs, soup and sandwiches,” she said.

Holly was gratified to get a call early Monday from Supervisor Vicky Howard’s office informing her of the program.

The resident, who lives in a 60-year-old un-reinforced brick home with her husband and children, said the family has not slept in the structure since the earthquake opened large cracks in the walls and caused the chimney to lean over.

Since then, they’ve been sleeping in a trailer parked outside the house and waiting for an engineer’s estimate of what it will take to shore up the building.

She said she called Howard’s office last week to ask about food stamp assistance.

“I was really glad and surprised when the woman called me back this morning, because no one’s ever called me back,” Holly said. “We’re those people who keep falling through the cracks.”

Distribution of the emergency stamps was formally approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday. Welfare officials immediately spread the word to local, state and federal relief agencies about the Monday openings, said Kathi Strahl, manager of the Simi Valley office.

Information was also broadcast on a local cable television channel in Fillmore and Piru.

*

The county-administered program requires applicants to meet low-income standards and file a declaration of earthquake-related loss of income or food.

For instance, a quake victim could qualify by losing a job because of quake damage or because his or her food spoiled during a power outage caused by the temblor.

Benefits are issued one time only and cover the equivalent of one month’s food stamps--$112 for a single person and up to $676 for a family of eight. The maximum net income for a qualifying family of four is $1,534 a month after earthquake losses are figured in, Reburn said.

*

Correspondent James Maiella contributed to this story.