FLEEING FELONS
ISSUE DATE: 11/2021
A fleeing felon is a person (including a minor) who is currently fleeing prosecution, custody, or confinement after being convicted, or charged with a felony. This includes a person who has left, or remains, outside the jurisdiction of the judicial system in which they have been charged or convicted in. The person may or may not admit this in writing on the Combined Application Form (CAF), Combined Application – Addendum (for SNAP (food) and cash assistance programs), or Minnesota Transition Application Form (MTAF). This also applies if the county or state agency has other reliable verified documentation that the client or applicant is a fleeing felon.
A fleeing felon is ineligible for public assistance. Deny or terminate assistance for ONLY the fleeing felon. The remaining unit members may receive assistance if otherwise eligible.
If you learn through the application form or another source, that a household member may fit the criteria for this status, contact your fraud prevention specialist (FPI), so they can work with law enforcement to verify status. If your agency does not have a fraud prevention specialist, a liaison with law enforcement should be designated to verify status. Eligibility staff should not contact the client to confirm status.
Determine if you must count the income and assets of the disqualified person. Follow the current deeming policy. See 0015.48 (Whose Assets to Consider), 0016 (Income From People Not in the Unit).
MFIP, DWP, MSA, GA, GRH:
Follow general provisions.
SNAP:
If a person self-identifies as a fleeing felon during the application process, the agency must verify the information from an independent source before accepting the declaration as true since the applicant may not understand the question or law enforcement may not be actively seeking the person.
Minnesota uses a 4-part test to establish fleeing felon status. To meet the specific criteria to determine this status, the following conditions must exist and be verified:
● | There is an outstanding felony warrant for the person by a Federal, State, or local law enforcement agency, and the underlying cause for the warrant is for committing or attempting to commit a crime that is a felony under the law of the place from which the person is fleeing. |
AND | |
● | The person is aware of, or should reasonably have been able to expect that, the felony warrant has already or would have been issued. Examples of awareness or reasonable expectation of the issuing of a warrant include, but are not limited to, violating the terms of a restraining order, committing an act that often results in a felony charge and conviction, and receipt of notice from a court or law enforcement about a felony conviction or incarceration. |
AND | |
● | The person has taken some action to avoid being arrested or jailed. Examples of avoiding arrest or jail include, but are not limited to, an attempted arrest, convincing family or friends to lie about the person’s location to law enforcement seeking to put them into custody or there is evidence from a law enforcement officer that an person left a jurisdiction after a court appearance. |
AND | |
● | The Federal, State, or local law enforcement agency is actively seeking the person. Actively seeking means that a Federal, State, or local law enforcement agency intends to enforce an outstanding felony warrant or to arrest an person for the probation or parole violation within 30 days of when the county or tribe requests information about the warrant. If the law enforcement agency does not intend to enforce an outstanding felony warrant or arrest an person within 30 days, the person is not considered a fleeing felon. Document this information in CASE/NOTEs. If the law enforcement agency intends to enforce the felony warrant or arrest the person for the probation or parole violation within 30 days of the date of the information is requested by the country or tribe, postpone taking any action on the case until the 30-day period has expired. |
PREVIOUS REVISIONS
| Date | Notes |
|---|---|
| 02/2018 | in general provisions adds the Combined Application – Addendum to the list of forms that a person may or may not admit in writing that they are a fleeing felon. |
| 11/2016 | updates policy throughout the section. |
| 12/2014 | Removed WB. This program was suspended 12/1/14. |
| 08/2013 | update Food Support and FS to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and FSET to SNAP E&T throughout. No policy was changed. |
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