An Edgewood couple is being accused of defrauding the state of New Mexico to obtain more than $50,000 in public assistance.

Robert and Julie Valdez are each charged with five third-degree and five fourth-degree felonies, including failure to disclose facts or change of circumstances to obtain public assistance and conspiracy.

The suspects waived their right to a preliminary hearing in Moriarty Magistrate Court and the case was bound over to Torrance County District Court on Oct. 7.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Magistrate Court, from 2004 to 2008 the Valdezes received $22,341 in overpayments for food stamp benefits, $22,755 in Medicaid benefits and $718 in cash assistance benefits.

This case is just one of many investigations in Torrance County concerning falsifying information to receive government benefits. Even though this is the latest case filed in the county, it likely won't be the last.

"My sense is it's a significant problem," Torrance County Deputy District Attorney Tim Cornish said. "And it's a problem we take very seriously."

Even though he had no specific statistics, Cornish said he is aware of several pending investigations in the county, but he only sees what results in criminal prosecution.

The charges in the Valdez case were filed after months of investigation by the Office of the Inspector General of the New Mexico Human Services Department, according to the report.

The Valdezes went to great lengths to keep the state from finding out they were living together while claiming they were separated and collecting benefits, according to the criminal complaint.

"In fact they were, at all times material to this action, living together as man and wife, and he was gainfully employed, earning between $17 and $26 an hour," the complaint states.

Robert Valdez also claimed he had been paying child support, according to the complaint, and Julie Valdez provided false information concerning her residence to conceal that she was living with Robert.

And the lies went deeper, according to the complaint.

"She buttressed this misrepresentation by providing fictitious statements from a fictitious landlord certifying that she was living at the fictitious address," the report states.

The date for the couple's district court hearing has not been set.