Boston bombing suspect’s family reportedly received $100G from taxpayers

The accused Boston Marathon bombers' family pulled in more than $100,000 in welfare up until 2012, The Boston Herald reported.

The benefits included food stamps, Section 8 housing and stipends, the report said. One person with knowledge of the documents that will be handed over to the House Post Audit and Oversight Committee told the paper, "the breadth of the benefits the family was receiving was stunning."

[pullquote]

Massachusetts' Executive Office of Health and Human Services said earlier that Tamerlan Tsarnaev's welfare benefits ended in 2012 when his family stopped meeting income eligibility limits. His wife's attorney claimed Katherine -- who had converted to Islam -- was working up to 80 hours a week as a home health aide while Tsarnaev stayed at home, the newspaper reported.

"The brothers were not receiving transitional assistance benefits at the time of the incident and have not received any transitional assistance benefits this year," Massachusetts Health and Human Services communication director Alec Loftus told the newspaper in a statement. "The Tsarnaevs' parents are former recipients of transitional assistance benefits, and both Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev received benefits through their parents when they were younger. Separately, Tamerlan and his family received benefits until 2012, when the family became ineligible based on their income."

The Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance works "to assist low-income individuals and families to meet their basic needs, increase their incomes and improve their quality of life," the agency's website says.

Tamerlan died shortly after the bombings. The medical examiner's office said Tuesday morning that it determined the cause of death but will not release the information until the remains have been released and the funeral home files a death certificate.

His younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was captured Friday night and charged with using a weapon of mass destruction. The 19-year-old could face the death penalty if convicted.

Amid the scrutiny, the suspects' mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, and her ex-husband, Anzor Tsarnaev, say they have put off the idea of any trip to the U.S. to reclaim their elder son's body or try to visit Dzhokhar in jail. Tsarnaev said on Sunday he was too ill to travel to the U.S.

Click for more from The Boston Herald