Former reality TV contestant from Gray pleads guilty to theft of SNAP benefits
A former reality TV contestant from Gray has pleaded guilty to one count of Class B theft by unauthorized taking, after prosecutors say she received more than $129,000 in public benefits that she wasn’t entitled to have.
Jodi Lawless Theriault had been scheduled for a jury trial this week, more than four years after she was indicted and pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors have alleged that she received funds through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and MaineCare from 2009 to 2016.
Related
Gray fitness trainer, former reality TV contestant, accused of welfare fraud
Theriault allegedly misrepresented her income and assets during six-month review assessments for the benefits, according to an investigative report that is in her court file. State officials launched an investigation in 2016, three years after receiving a “citizen’s complaint” from a former friend in California who told the state that Theriault had admitted to defrauding its public benefits system.
She never reported that the father of her three children was another member of her household, the state said. Theriault was also accused of failing to disclose several of the family’s luxury items, her income from several jobs, including as a fitness trainer, and other assets.
Theriault’s defense attorney, Verne Paradie said Thursday that the defense disputes the roughly $129,000 amount. He said Theriault pleaded guilty to the theft count only as it related to some of the alleged SNAP benefits. According to court records, the state believes Theriault was overpaid roughly $54,000 in SNAP benefits.
Theriault will be sentenced at a later date. She faces up to 10 years in prison.
Advertisement
Paradie said the defense hopes Theriault will avoid prison, and that he anticipates she’ll be ordered to pay restitution.
“She’s working hard to support her kids,” Paradie said. “She just wanted to put this behind her.”
The trial was expected to involve numerous witnesses, including her children’s father, who is serving a five-year manslaughter sentence related to a fight and shooting on Forest Avenue in 2024. Attorneys had selected a jury Monday and a judge had just denied Paradie’s pretrial motions arguing that it was unfair for the state to prosecute Theriault for alleged conduct that occurred more than six years before she was indicted.
Theriault has appeared on at least two reality TV shows since 2016.
As a contestant on Steve Austin’s “Broke Skull Challenge” in February of that year, she ran in 100-degree heat with a 45-pound log on her back, but ultimately was sent home after losing a brawl involving seven other women.
In 2017, she was on the History network show “The Selection: Special Operations Experiment,” which challenged 30 people with no military experience to endure the same physical and mental challenges that Navy SEAL and Army Ranger recruits sign up for.
Copy the Story Link
Tagged: crime, Cumberland County Superior Court, fraud, SNAP
Emily Allen covers courts for the Portland Press Herald. It's her favorite beat so far — before moving to Maine in 2022, she reported on a wide range of topics for public radio in West Virginia and was. More by Emily Allen
