CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) — A woman accused of lying to collect nearly $192,000 in benefits for herself and her four children faces welfare fraud charges.

Kimberlie Nikedah Miller, 33, was being held Wednesday at the Lake County Jail on $20,000 bond. The Merrillville resident was charged Tuesday in Lake Criminal Court.

According to court records, she told caseworkers with the state Family and Social Services Administration that she had minimal income and that the father of her four children had abandoned them in 1999.

In fact, tax and Bureau of Motor Vehicles records showed Miller and the man lived together in homes in East Chicago, Gary and Hobart and earned as much as $40,000 a year.

According to the state, that income was too large for Miller and her children to have qualified for the combined $191,967 in Medicaid benefits, food stamps and child care subsidies they received from the state between 2003 and 2008.

During the same time, the father of the children filed tax forms listing Miller's home as his address, court records allege. Miller also underreported her income to the state, court documents state.

If convicted, Miller faces up to eight years in prison and an $8,000 fine. She had not yet appeared in court and did not have an attorney listed in jail records.