Twenty-five people from Onondaga County were arrested in a one-day sting that was led by the District Attorney's office and the Department of Social Services. According to the DA, the defendants have taken advantage of more than $500,000 taxpayer dollars. Our Karen Lee rode along with the U.S. Marshals for the bust.

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"Open the door. Just hit this here, we've got to go upstairs," said a U.S. Marshal to an apartment tenant.

"I'm a taxpayer, you're a taxpayer and that's ultimately one of the biggest budget items for this county is Medicaid and social service programs. So it affects all of us," said Patrick Quinn, the Onondaga County Chief Assistant District Attorney.

Ten different law enforcement agencies spread out throughout the county to make arrests on welfare fraud. Out of the 32 warrants, 25 people were taken into custody. Their alleged crimes include falsely claiming to be single parents to failure to disclose income or property. All of that adds up to more than $500,000 cheated taxpayer dollars.

"It's almost more blatant now. People are learning how to game the system, what not to put down on their applications," said Quinn.

After roundups like this one, the District Attorney's office says they start seeing positive results almost immediately.

"People that start thinking this could be me next time around, they will contact DSS and say close my file out, so it works," said Quinn.

Despite the number of people getting scared off, however, the number of those who commit the crime multiples much faster.

"For every 32 we have, there's probably 300, 400 cases that the DSS is still looking into and we could probably be doing this every month, which is sort of scary," said Quinn.

Instead of a two to seven-year prison sentence, the DA's office is looking to negotiate plea bargains where jail time will be waived if they pay back the county.