A Camano Island man who ran an online church is accused of committing welfare fraud with his wife from 2019 to 2024, according to court documents.
A report by Criminal Investigator Dina Townsend with the state Office of Fraud and Accountability alleges that the couple, Jeremiah and Maresha Swartz, wrongfully obtained more than $35,000 from the state by failing to report their household income when they applied for medical, food and cash assistance.
While he was receiving welfare payments, Jeremiah Swartz allegedly wrote more than $40,000 in cashier checks to S.D. Bullion, a company that sells gold, silver and platinum, the report states.
In an interview with the investigator, Jeremiah Swartz denied any wrongdoing and said he didn’t know he was supposed to report donations when applying for assistance; he said the federal government doesn’t consider donations to be income. He said he never received any donations from the Kingdom Tribe church website and that he unsuccessfully tried to file to make the church a nonprofit. He also said he doesn’t have a safe full of gold but that the family sold items to survive.
On Nov . 7, prosecutors charged Jeremiah and Maresha Swartz in Island County Superior Court with theft in the first degree (welfare fraud). If convicted of the charge, they could face up to 90 days in jail under the standard sentencing range.
Under the legal description of the charge, they are both accused of obtaining public assistance “by means of a willfully false statement or representation or impersonation, or a willful failure to reveal any material fact, condition, or circumstance affecting eligibility or need for assistance, as required by law, or by means of a willful failure to promptly notify the county office in writing of any change in status or any other change in circumstances which affects the person’s eligibility.”
According to the report, the Office of Fraud and Accountability received a fraud referral regarding the Swartzes in July 2025. Jeremiah Swartz was operating the online church and received donations to his PayPal account as well as donations through other crowd funding sources, such as Venmo, GiveSendGo and Meal Train; he did not report the income to the state Department of Social and Health Services when applying for assistance, the report states.
The report explains that crowdfunding sources do not count toward food assistance but only apply when clients receive cash assistance; yet people are still required to report all earned and unearned sources of income. The report states that Jeremiah Swartz failed to report more than $90,000 in income from June 2023 to September 2024 when applying for cash assistance.
The investigator alleges that Maresha Swartz didn’t report income from her business as commissions, the report states.
Townsend wrote that a letter she sent to the couple about the alleged fraud investigation was posted on the Swartzes’ Facebook page on Dec. 21, 2024.
“This feels a whole lot like persecution because I’ve been extremely honest every time I talk to these people even if it’ll cost us our benefits,” the post states, according to the report. “Please pray for us because this is the last thing we needed to hear, and now it looks like we’re losing our food stamps for sure. Lord, we trust you, please vindicate us, your children. Lord have mercy.”
