CRANBERRY TWP — A township woman is facing criminal charges for allegedly receiving $195,223 in public assistance while operating a business that was paid $1.24 million from the state Department of Human Services.

Kimberly Edwards-Coleman, 35, was charged in Allegheny County Court with three felony fraud charges, including fraudulently obtaining food-stamps. The charges were filed Dec. 28 by the state Office of the Inspector General.

Beginning in 2014, Coleman owned and operated a company known as Lioness Community Care that aimed to provide community-based residential care to people with developmental and emotional disabilities.

From June 2014 to Nov. 30, 2017, the state's Department of Human Services paid Edward-Coleman and her husband $1.24 million through nine bank accounts in their names. Investigators found that Edwards-Coleman and her husband entered into an 11-year-lease for a home in Cranberry Township for $30,000 and a monthly sum of $8,907.

Through an investigation, officials with the inspector general claim that the Colemans omitted their source of income when she applied for benefits with the Allegheny County Assistance Office.

Read more about this case in Sunday's Butler Eagle.