After multiple arrests, Iowa man sues when he's denied SNAP benefits
An Iowa man who says he has no stable access to food is suing the state, alleging it has unfairly denied him access to food assistance based on a criminal conviction later voided by the courts.
Charles Hasselmann, 32, of Ankeny alleges that in 2023, he applied for food assistance while residing in a correctional facility as a result of a probation-revocation order that was premised on a finding of him being a habitual offender.
The sentence was later vacated by a district court judge, Hasselmann claims, with the judge finding the habitual-offender enhancement to his sentence on a theft conviction lacked sufficient factual basis. Because of that finding, the court also set aside the related order that revoked his probation, Hasselmann claims.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Court records indicate the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services later disqualified Hasselmann from receiving food assistance through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP, for at least 12 months. It also demanded restitution for overpayment, citing 'stolen' funds that Hasselmann says are due to others' unauthorized use of his benefits card.
In his lawsuit against DHHS, Hasselmann is seeking an injunction that would award him SNAP benefits and halt any further efforts at collections for the alleged overpayments.
In his petition, Hasselmann claims he was recently released from more than two years of incarceration and now has no reliable access to food or income. The public interest, he argues, strongly favors his access to 'basic nutritional support.'
The state has yet to file a response to the lawsuit, but in a related court case attorneys for the state argued that while a judge did find there was insufficient factual basis to impose the habitual-offender sentence enhancement on the conviction for theft, the court did not disturb the underlying conviction for theft.
The state's lawyers say that under a plea deal that was later reached, Hasselmann had agreed to a prison term of no more than five years on the theft charge. The court then set aside the earlier probation violation order, the state alleges, not because it represented 'an illegal sentence,' but because, through the subsequent plea deal, a five-year prison sentence had been agreed to and imposed.
Court records indicate that since 2012, Hasselmann has been charged with numerous felony and misdemeanor offenses, resulting in seven convictions for theft, five convictions for driving while barred, five convictions for forgery, two convictions for assault and two convictions for drunken driving.
SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
2 hours ago
- The Hill
‘Rage Against the Regime' protests planned across US: What to know
SAN ANGELO, Texas (KLST/NEXSTAR) – Critics of the President Trump's immigration and economic agenda will be 'raging against the regime' this weekend during protests in cities nationwide. Saturday's 'Rage Against the Regime' protests, organized by volunteers of the 50501 movement, are being held in response to what the group describes as a number of 'threats' to democracy and human rights. Organizers are focusing in on the current administration's 'weaponization of ICE against our communities, construction of concentration camps, covering up of the Epstein Files, attacks on transgender rights, and its dismantling of Medicaid, SNAP, USAID, the Department of Education, NOAA, and the National Weather Service,' among other issues, according to a 50501 press release. Nearly 350 'Rage Against the Regime' protests are scheduled for Saturday, according to a website operated by 50501. More than 100 additional protests and demonstrations are also scheduled to take place Saturday. The day of the rallies also happens to fall on the birthday of Vice President Vance, though 50501 spokesperson Hunter Dunn, in a statement to USA Today, said the coinciding dates were merely that — a coincidence. The 50501 movement, which is an abbreviation of the phrase '50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement,' had previously partnered to organize the 'Hands Off' and 'No Kings' protests earlier this year. The group has also promoted several other rallies of 'days of action' since Trump took office. As they have during previous protests, 50501 urges non-violence during demonstrations and rallies. A guide provided to activists and organizers also calls for designated volunteers to help with conflict resolution and safety at the events. In San Angelo, Texas, Saturday's protests were given a different name out of a desire to emphasize its peaceful intent. 'This event is being called RISE Against the Regime rather than 'Rage,' … This is intentional due to our goal to have a peaceful display of opposition to what the current administration has been doing to our nation and our community,' a representative for West Texas Indivisible, the group organizing the protest, said. 'We hope to encourage others to connect with us in an effort to build a supportive community, promote civic engagement, and work together to make the change we want to see,' the representative said, adding that those wishing to bring signs should refrain from using explicit language or imagery. The 'Rage Against the Regime' moniker of Saturday's protests, meanwhile, is a reference to the Los Angeles rock band Rage Against the Machine. Dunn even quoted a song from the band in a press release ahead of Saturday's events. A representative for 50501 was not immediately available to comment. Trump, meanwhile, has brushed off questions about 50501's efforts in the past, saying ahead of the 'No Kings' demonstrations in June that he wouldn't liken himself to a monarch. 'I don't feel like a king; I have to go through hell to get stuff approved,' he told reporters.
Boston Globe
9 hours ago
- Boston Globe
I didn't want to need free groceries
So I share Kidder's lament that feeding the hungry is on track to be a growth industry in Donald Trump's America. The Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up Experience first. Before 2009, as the son of a judge and the privileged middle class, I'd never been unemployed and in need of charity in three decades of working. I loved what I did, even though freelance writing is a constant scramble for income. I've always read a book before bed; as a freelancer, I chose only books for which I was earning a reviewer's paycheck. Advertisement When the recession and its double-digit unemployment hit, the 'subprime mortgages,' 'mortgage-backed securities,' and unregulated 'shadow banks' that underlay them — and that many Americans had never heard of — unleashed work-killing forces too devastating for individual initiative to counter. Even wealthy Harvard scrapped a lucrative project (by my bank account's standards) that I'd done for four straight summers. My then-wife's part-time job invaluably backstopped the family income. But after a year of little work and with no idea how long I'd be idle, I despaired of ever being employed again. Free groceries to stretch our household resources seemed the only responsible path, especially with a child to feed. Advertisement The other folks in St. Paul's basement made for an interesting cross-section of people. Some were fellow baby boomers. The age and dress of others suggested they were students, presumably not destitute but nevertheless on a budget as they contended with Greater Boston's formidable living costs. No one dressed in rags. (Neither did the recipients Kidder observed, which he attributes to their efforts 'to ward off disgrace' from having to seek charity.) My anxious heart beat fast during my first time at the pantry. Normally a chatterbox, I made little small talk with others. It took a number of weeks before the habitual visits and the saintly volunteers' freedom from judgment thawed some of my embarrassment. I also found psychic balm in the relief of free food for my household's budget. Not everyone adjusted as easily. At least one person at the pantry teared up at having to seek aid in public. I never saw her return. Advertisement The volunteers who set out and distributed food never questioned who we were or why we were there. Hard hearts will call that poor quality control. Those who know better, who relied on the kindness of these strangers, recognize it as mindfulness of recipients' dignity. Today, those who do such work can't fully backfill the Beautiful Bill's shrinkage of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called food stamps). Kidder notes that the national food bank network Feeding America says SNAP supplied nine times as much food as its own agency's food banks do. That the bill's backers had not just food support but the broader safety net in their sights is clear from the legislation's attaching work requirements to Medicaid. Two years ago, perhaps anticipating this dark American moment, Republican Representative Steve Scalise Yet do work. Work requirements Perhaps if our leaders saw who goes to food pantries and why — perhaps if they spent a week or two living as pantry patrons — the mythic myopia would lift from their eyes. But there are none so blind as those who will not see. Advertisement
Axios
21 hours ago
- Axios
How SNAP cuts will hit the Bay Area
With millions of food-insecure people expected to lose benefits, food banks and pantries in the Bay Area are bracing for the worst and rallying community support to continue serving those in need. Why it matters: Roughly 175,000 residents in Bay Area congressional districts are at risk of losing benefits from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — the nation's largest food aid program — including children and seniors, according to the California Budget & Policy Center. What they're saying: If you add up all of the SNAP recipients at risk of losing some benefits, they'd fill up every major stadium in the Bay Area, San Francisco-Marin Food Bank spokesperson Lisa Gulezian told Axios. "Locally, we are asking the city and county to strengthen their response to food insecurity by protecting CalFresh and SNAP," said the food bank's associate director of policy and advocacy, Marchon Tatmon, who pointed to potential initiatives like pop-up pantries and community funds focused on food insecurity. State of play: Pre-COVID, the food bank served around 34,000 households, according to Tatmon. At the peak of the pandemic, that number hit 56,000. It remains at roughly 53,000 households today. "The need is still there," Tatmon said, noting that over 6,500 people are on their waitlist. "Lines are still long." Volunteers, donations and calls to elected officials will be critical for ensuring the food bank can adequately provide for people in need, Tatmon added. Context: Trump's signature policy bill tightens SNAP work requirements, a move Republicans say will reduce waste, fraud and abuse. It's on track to cut 20% of spending on food stamps, which could result in more than 2 million people losing benefits, per an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office. States could also shoulder more benefit costs, the rate of which would be set by a state's percent of erroneous payments. Benefits are currently 100% federally funded, though states share administrative costs.
