GAGE COUNTY - A former supervisor with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services is facing charges of fraud and theft.

Lea Meece of Wymore is accused of acquiring funds designed for SNAP and Medicaid benefits and giving them to husband Kyle Ames. In total, they are accused of misappropriating more than $43,000, according to court records.

Meece, who worked for the Nebraska DHHS beginning in 2013, is believed to have illegally provided benefits to Ames, then her boyfriend and her eventual husband, between March 2023 and April 2025 before discrepancies were discovered by someone else in the office.

The initial Gage County court filing alleges Meece "knowingly obtain[ed] the property of another, the DHHS", and alleges the value of the misused funds as $40,350.74 in Medicaid benefits and $2,691 in SNAP benefits.

Meece and Ames both face the same pair of felony charges: Aiding and abetting theft by deception in value of more than $5,000, a Class 2 Felony, and welfare fraud valued at more than $1,500, a Class 4 Felony. 

The couple was arrested in late October and bond was filed on November 3. Bond has been set at ten percent of $50,000. Both Meece and Ames are due for arraignment in separate case filings in Gage County court on Tuesday, November 18.