Los Angeles ? The man believed to be responsible for killing his wife, five children and himself in Wilmington had been fired from his hospital job along with his wife for allegedly forging a supervisor’s signature on a child-care application, according to Kaiser Permanente officials.

Diana Bonta, vice president for public affairs at Kaiser Permanente, said the couple falsified income records so they could qualify for a child-care program run by Crystal Stairs, a nonprofit child development agency near the West Los Angeles medical center where they worked.

“They were terminated because in the health care field, records are an important part of the process and people trust us with their health,” she said.

Several police sources familiar with the investigation told the Los Angeles Times that Ervin and Ana Lupoe made upward of $40 an hour each in their work as radiological technicians for the hospital. But the couple made it appear that they were earning between $7 and $10 an hour, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

The disparity was discovered when the child-care agency called Kaiser to inquire about the couple’s income. Bonta would say only that Kaiser launched their investigation in December after being informed of the alleged fraud.

A day after police discovered the bodies of the seven family members at their Wilmington home, police said they were still trying to find out what could have triggered Lupoe to kill.

The couple’s financial situation, while pressing in recent months, did not appear by itself to be especially dire. The Lupoes were behind one month in their mortgage, investigators said. They found two bounced checks — one for $15,000, the other for nearly $2,000, according to the law enforcements sources. Investigators said it did not appear they were behind on their credit cards.