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Gildardo Vallez, 35, and Carmen Gil, 38, were arrested Sept. 2 after search warrants were served and detectives obtained documents, weapons and narcotics, according to Pima County Sheriff’s Department officials.

Among evidence seized were documents that are linked to fraud of the state’s ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which was formerly known as food stamps, according to an ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Department of Economic Security news release.

Vallez and Gil are suspected of committing $7,297 in SNAP fraud, and $6,250 in AHCCCS fraud, the release states.

The investigation was conducted by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and AHCCCS.

“Fraud on any level is absolutely unacceptable,� DES Director Timothy Jeffries said in the news release. “Stealing from the poor is reprehensible. Anyone who commits fraud against agencies which support those in desperate need of nutrition and medical benefits must be found and prosecuted.

The Sheriff’s Department and the DEA worked with DES “to put an end to this sophisticated fraud scheme,� said DES Inspector General Juan J. Arcellana. “It is particularly gratifying that the joint task force was able to detect and to eliminate fraud that encompassed multiple benefit programs,� he said.

Three search warrants were served at houses in the 900 block of West Calle Milu in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, in the 800 block of Villa Rosamorada in Rio Rico and in the 600 block of North Sierra in Nogales.

Vallez and Gil were booked into the Pima County jail on drug charges Sept. 2. The DES release did not say what charges the two face in connection with the suspected fraud of the medical and nutrition programs.

A DES official could not be reached for comment Tuesday. The investigation is continuing, authorities said.