Thousands of dollars from California welfare funds were used at strip clubs from 2007 until 2009, the Los Angeles Times reports.

California welfare recipients have been able to get taxpayer cash — meant to feed and clothe needy families — from ATM machines at strip clubs across the state, including some well-known gentlemen’s cabarets in Los Angeles.

More than $12,000 from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program was dispensed from the start of 2007 to the end of 2009 at clubs including Sam’s Hofbrau, Seventh Veil and Star Strip, according to officials at the Department of Social Services.

Technically the recipients could have received the cash at the local strip club and then used it to buy diapers, but what’s the likelihood of that? If you’re taking cash from an ATM at a strip club, odds are you’re patronizing the strip club.

Strip-club managers seemed shocked that welfare benefits were accessible through their ATMs. In most cases, the machines were provided by a third party, the managers said, and they had no way of knowing their ATMs are part of the state system.

The state contracts with the Quest ATM network.

“If there’s a way that the ATM can reject their card if they’re on welfare, I’m really and truly all for that,” said Merle Matias, manager at Sam’s Hofbrau in downtown Los Angeles, where $2,159 had been withdrawn, according to Department of Social Services officials. “I don’t think it will affect us at all.”

Star Strip manager Joey Mancini said state officials must be wrong about the $1,265 they said had been withdrawn from his club’s ATM. The Quest symbol isn’t on the machine, he said, adding that he thought any system that allowed access to welfare benefits at a strip club should be reformed: “This is not what that money is for.”

It goes without saying that people who can afford a lap dance probably don’t need taxpayer funds to purchase food. You need food? Skip the lap dance from Texas Tina.