Woman pleads guilty to wrongfully obtaining assistance
Published 7:39 am Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Natasha Eileen Woods, 31, of Austin pleaded guilty to felony wrongfully obtaining assistance as part of a plea agreement on Monday in Mower County District Court.
She initially pleaded not guilty to the charge on Feb. 1.

Natasha Eileen Woods, 31
According to court documents, the Mower County Sheriff’s Office received a welfare fraud referral from the Department of Human Services on Nov. 28 regarding the composition of Woods’ household. A child support officer said benefit documents had been prepared for Woods and Antonio Dean Taylor the previous day. It was discovered that both listed the same address, a residence in the 800 block of Fourth Avenue Northeast, but had never disclosed that they lived together during the lengthy time they had been receiving benefits. Woods also listed the last name of her two children as “Taylor.”
The child support officer investigated the matter and found Woods started receiving benefits in 2010, the same year Taylor started working for Quality Pork Processors. While receiving benefits, Woods listed the father of one child as “Robert Gooch” and claimed she did not know the identity of the second child’s father. When asked about the name, she said “Taylor” was a family name.
A Mower County detective looked into the address history for Woods and Taylor, which indicated they likely lived together since June 2010. The detective found domestic dispute reports between Woods and Taylor dating back as far as October 2010 and as recently as July 2017.
A copy of the financial assistance report provided to the detective by Mower County showed that Woods had received over $30,000 in assistance between Jan. 1, 2010, and Nov. 30, 2017.
A review of Woods’ criminal history shows prior convictions for disorderly conduct, theft and assault.
Woods will be sentenced on Aug. 17.