DETROIT — A Dearborn woman has been sentenced to almost six years in prison for theft of public money and identity theft following an investigation into trafficking of food assistance benefits.

Pamela Tribby, 53, of Dearborn, was sentenced to 70 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Corbett O’Meara, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade said in a press release.

Tribby also will serve three years of probation and pay $518,358 in restitution for her role in a large-scale identity theft and food stamp fraud operation in Dearborn from September 2013 through September 2015.

According to information provided to the court, Tribby violated regulations governing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funded by the USDA by applying for food assistance using more than 300 illegally acquired identities from an out-of-state stolen identity list. Tribby subsequently sold the acquired benefits, worth more than $518,000, to individuals who did not qualify for food assistance.

Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services has a variety of practices in place to combat the use of identity fraud by people improperly applying for public assistance. For example, the department uses a national database to spot people who applied for benefits in more than one state. The department is piloting a project that uses a data broker to assist in validating and authenticating identities of applicants. MDHHS’s office of inspector general regularly analyzes public assistance data for suspect identities on applications and investigates possible fraud.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Abed Hammoud.