What is the de minimis nature of the welfare fraud committed by the prosecution witness?

The undersigned has some difficulty with the rational of the state court with respect to the de minimis nature of the welfare fraud committed by the prosecution witness. Assuming that such an offense is ordinarily treated as a misdemeanor, it stands to reason that some aspect of the offense took it into more egregious territoryat least when it was prosecuted. Moreover, since the offense would necessarily be pertinent to the honesty of the witness, the offense is generally more pertinent for impeachment than a non-fraud type of offense. People v. Castro, 38 Cal. 3d 301, 313-315 (1985) ("Obviously it is easier to infer that a witness is lying if the felony of which he has been convicted involves dishonesty as a necessary element than when it merely indicates a 'bad character' and "general readiness to do evil'").