Hartford - Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Wednesday said there is evidence that at least 15 state employees misreported their income or other eligibility information when applying for a federal food money program after Tropical Storm Irene.

Those workers could soon face termination and even criminal prosecution for defrauding the Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as D-SNAP, which offered free food and grocery money to low and moderate-income households in the storm's aftermath.

The state Department of Social Services administered the program and notified the governor late last week about potential irregularities involving state workers.

More than 74,000 people in over 23,700 Connecticut households received D-SNAP debit cards after the late summer storm, including about 800 state employees, officials said. The average card had $684 on it that could only be used to buy food items.

To speed the distribution of the benefits, D-SNAP applicants were allowed to self-report their income. Malloy has said it's possible that non-state employees also abused the relief program, but his current focus is on state workers' misbehavior.

"These are people who work for us who did this," Malloy said. "It's not only having broken the law, but it's this violation of trust."

The social services department conducted a preliminary internal review of the "first batch" of state workers' D-SNAP applications. On Wednesday afternoon the department forwarded the 15 names to the heads of various state agencies, which can now begin disciplinary proceedings, including administrative hearings.

The names, which were not released to the public, will also be given to state and federal prosecutors for potential criminal charges, officials said.

"Based on my administration's investigation, it appears clear that the abuses of public trust involved go beyond simply lying about income," Malloy said in a subsequent statement. "In some instances, people lied about assets under their control or even listed a deceased relative as living in the household. Given the information known to us, these were not oversights or honest mistakes."

To qualify for D-SNAP, recipients had to have storm-related, out-of-pocket expenses and meet financial criteria. In general, take-home monthly income could not exceed $2,186 for a single person and $2,847 for a household of two. The uppermost limit was $5,479 for a household of eight.

If any of the 15 workers are found guilty of a crime, the state can initiate court proceedings to strip them of all or part of their retirement pensions. Malloy told reporters that he would consider such action.

The governor said that outdated state computer equipment may have been a factor in the fraud, as the D-SNAP application process involved paperwork rather than electronic forms that might have immediately verified an applicant's background.

Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, this week criticized Malloy's decision to have the social services department investigate the fraud rather than asking an impartial organization or firm outside of state government.

But Malloy on Wednesday commended the department and its Commissioner, Roderick Bremby, for discovering the irregularities and quickly alerting him.

The governor asked that anyone with information about potential D-SNAP fraud involving state employees to contact his office. He spoke with reporters shortly after returning from a Democratic Governors Association meeting in California.