MUSKOGEE, OKLA. ? The mother of a slain child whose beaten and decapitated body was dumped near a Kansas City, Mo., park was charged with obtaining food stamps and welfare assistance for the girl years after the child was killed.

Michelle M. Johnson received more than $2,000 in state aid on behalf of her daughter, Erica Michelle Green, on several occasions between September 2001 and her arrest in May, Oklahoma Department of Human Services records show.

Johnson, 30, who, along with her husband, Harrell Johnson, 25, is awaiting trial on charges of murder and child endangerment in Missouri in the child’s death, was charged Friday in Muskogee County with two counts of attempting to obtain food stamps by fraud and one count of obtaining welfare assistance by fraud, all felonies.

The 3-year-old girl’s body was discovered in April 2001. The community condemned the brutality of the crime, naming the anonymous child “Precious Doe” and vowing to find her killer.

Despite the pending murder case, there was no hesitation about filing the fraud charges, First Assistant Dist. Atty. David Pierce said.

“She shouldn’t get a free crime just because she’s up for murder in another state,” he said.

“We’re all taxpayers, and nobody wants to give benefits to people like this.”

Shortly after the girl’s body was found, Michelle Johnson returned to Muskogee from her visit to Kansas City and four months later was receiving food stamps and Temporary Aid to Needy Families from DHS, according to an affidavit.

Johnson “falsely reported that her child, Erica Green, resided in the home,” Agent George Tipton of the state Office of the Inspector General reported in a court document.

Johnson received $902 in welfare assistance and food stamps at that time, records show.

Johnson applied for food stamps again in December 2003 and January 2004, Tipton reported, but she “withdrew her request for assistance after being asked for proof that Erica Green was attending school.”