Austin Yeazel is a 27-year-old father of three children, all under the age of five, including one with autism. He lives in Middletown, Ohio, the same place Vice President J.D. Vance grew up. Yeazel hasn’t had a full-time job in more than a year, but not for lack of trying. He said he has applied for more than 50 positions, from serving food to cleaning portable toilets, with no success.
To help his family get by, Yeazel called a few weeks ago to renew his Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, commonly known as food stamps. The state employee on the other end of the line delivered shocking news: Yeazel wasn’t eligible for SNAP because his Social Security number and records showed that he had earned nearly $90,000 that year from two different jobs.
Yeazel told us that he didn’t get a penny of that money. But he was able to track down two tax forms that showed his name and Social Security number—but someone else’s address. Those forms, which were reviewed by The Free Press, also showed more than $65,000 in earnings from a contract position and more than $24,000 plus retirement benefits from a full-time job at a nearby Klosterman Baking Company factory, which employs more than 900 people.
