The attorney for a Brooklyn man accused of ripping off more than $33,000 in Medicaid benefits says his client is innocent — because he cannot read English.

“How can you scheme the welfare system if you can’t read or write the papers you’re signing?” Joe Mure asked after Carmine Gargano appeared yesterday in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

Gargano’s son, Carmine Jr., disappeared in 2004 and hasn’t been seen since, the suspected victim of a mob hit.