Day: March 5, 2011

Food stamp fraud trifecta this evening

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Whoa, I don’t know what is going on, but maybe the Obama Administration is going after these immigrant food stamp scammers with a vengeance.  I don’t think I’ve ever had three stories all in one evening.

Toledo, Ohio:

TOLEDO, Ohio (WUPW) – The Express Mart on Heatherdowns Boulevard in the south end was busted for food stamp fraud and illegal gambling.

Agents with the Ohio Investigative Unit arrested 30-year-old Mohamed Beyrouti for illegal use of food stamps and telecommunications fraud.

Gahanna, Ohio:

A Gahanna man will spend a year at a halfway house and six months on house arrest for his involvement in a food-stamp trafficking case.

Federal Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr. handed down the sentence for Shuceeb Geedi yesterday in U.S. District Court in Columbus.

[…..]

But Sargus said in court that while Geedi’s offense was serious, he did not organize the scheme and did not own the stores that were involved.

Sargus also sentenced Geedi, a Somali immigrant, to pay $200,000 in restitution.

[…..]

Five others involved in the scheme pleaded guilty and were sentenced to six months of house arrest and ordered to pay restitution. Three of them also were sentenced to six months at a halfway house.

Two other defendants remain at large. [store owners?]

[…..]

Agents estimated the loss from the scheme to the food-stamp and WIC programs at $500,000.

Wichita, Kansas:

(WICHITA, Kan.) — Thirteen people have been indicted in a federal crackdown in Wichita on the sale of food benefits for cash.

U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom announced two separate indictments Tuesday involving more than $580,000 in food stamp benefits unlawfully redeemed at two small grocery stores.

The indictments charge the store owners and others with food stamp fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the Agriculture Department.

[…..]

One indictment charges Muhammad Qadeer Akram and his wife, Shama Qadeer, as the owners of Alnoor Groceries and Biryani House on East 21st.

Charged in a separate indictment is the owner of Kansas Food Market on North Arkansas, Ahmed Ajami Al-Maleki.

Looks like all three cases involve Muslims.  I swear there is a course being taught abroad called Food Stamp Scamming 101 (How to get rich quick and rip off the infidel at the same time) for enterprising Muslim immigrants to America.

Reminder to resettlement agencies—those who sell the food stamps can get arrested too, it’s not just a buyer’s crime!

Readers, you can help expose these scams.  I’ve seen it done.  If there is an immigrant-run convenience store (or small gas station) in your neighborhood and you see lots of traffic in and out but not that much stuff on the shelves, it’s a dead giveaway.  Or, better still see if someone in your neighborhood will tell you if they sell their food stamps for cash, or know someone who does.  Then go to your local police authority and report your suspicions.  A good police department will then set up a sting and if they find evidence, they know how to bring in the feds.  Have patience because the whole operation can take years to bring down.

For more cases, search RRW for ‘food stamp fraud’ or ‘food stamp scams.’  I’ve probably posted dozens of stories and am sorry I never made a category for it—but who knew it would be such a widespread crime.

 

At least Tennessee blogger GiGi is honest

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Your tax dollars:

Just came across this blog—Jacob Street—where blogger GiGi posted her plea to US Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker to not cut any funding for the refugee program.  I told you here and here recently that the resettlement industry is busy drumming up opposition to proposed budget cuts passed by the House of Representatives.   By the way, the longer this 2011 budget issue drags on the more time all the special interests will have to gear up and oppose any cuts.

At least, and probably for the first time, I’m seeing an employee of a federal contractor—in this case Catholic Charities—express fear for the loss of her job.  BUT,  MY QUESTION CONTINUES TO BE—WHY ARE WE FUNDING CHURCH GROUPS TO RESETTLE REFUGEES IN THE FIRST PLACE?   What happened to private Christian charity?

From Jacob Street:

As your constituent and a staff member of Catholic Charities of TN and the Tennessee Office for Refugees, I write to urge you to save the refugee resettlement program from drastic cuts, and to fund the Migration and Refugee Assistance Account (MRA); Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR); and International Disaster Assistance (IDA) accounts at their FY2010 enacted levels. Cuts to these accounts, which have been historically under-funded, will have a devastating affect on refugees, Afghan and Iraqi Special Immigrant Visa recipients, victims of torture and trafficking, other vulnerable populations, as well as communities across the country that welcome these populations.

[…..]

I worry for my job and the jobs of all of my co-workers and all of the organizations that have a role in refugee resettlement. I worry for the refugees we resettle and for the refugees who live in dire situations in refugee camps across the world. By cutting funding our livelihoods will be drastically affected and sadly, many many lives will be in jeopardy.

I don’t blame GiGi for being worried for herself.  People have become so accustomed to living off the government (the taxpayer) that they don’t even think about where the money comes from.   Just like the unions in Wisconsin, they don’t get it.   The taxpayer is broke, the government is broke!

For new readers: Tennessee has many problems with refugees such as the Somalis resettled there by mostly Catholic Charities (see my whole category on Nashville).  Remember the Somali sex trafficking gang was working out of Nashville, here.  Also, State Senator Jim Tracy introduced a bill in the state legislature to try and get more state and local control over the refugee program being run by Catholic Charities, the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement and the US State Department, here.   There is also a growing controversy over a bill to make Shariah Law (favored by Muslims in Tennessee) illegal, here.  So, it’s not all sweetness and light in Tennessee as it relates to immigrants and refugees as GiGi would have her Senators think.

The Times of Malta editorial tip-toe!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Oh my gosh, faced with the possibility of tens of thousands of fleeing North Africans coming ashore on the Mediterranean Island country of Malta—a big problem before the “democracy” revolutions began—an editorial in the Times of Malta goes on for paragraphs about the humanitarian problems (costs etc.) before it gets to several squishy paragraphs that tip-toe around the real problem.   How do you sort out “deserving” refugees from criminals and terrorists?  You ask them!

“….the nature of certain claims could be very delicate!”

Many of those fleeing Libya are likely to be asylum seekers. But there may also be many other nationalities who are in Libya but do not want to return to their own country fearing persecution. The UNHCR says it registered over 8,000 refugees in Libya, mainly from Palestine, Sudan, Iraq, Eritrea, Somalia and Chad. However, the number might be much higher.

In such circumstances, the Office of the Refugee Commissioner in Malta needs to be sufficiently resourced [gobs of money on hand–ed] and prepared. Not only because it might once again be faced with a huge wave of asylum seekers but also because the nature of certain claims could be very delicate and would require top interviewing, credibility analysis and refugee status determination skills.

“Top interviewing!”   What on earth are you going to ask a bunch of guys in boats from Libya or Tunisia with no papers, escaping countries with no government to speak of, ‘hey, Muslim 20-year-old, any criminal record?’  How many do you think will answer in the affirmative?

Here is a good one, someone is going to have to determine if the would-be asylee or refugee has been “found guilty of acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.” Or, how about “crimes against peace?”   Do we really think they will have their criminal or terrorism dossiers on the boat.   Read it, I am not making this up.

Malta’s refugee status determination legislation, which reflects international and EU requirements and practice, lays down that an applicant is excluded from being a refugee where there are serious reasons for considering s/ he has committed a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity, as defined in the international instruments drawn up to make provision in respect of such crimes. Moreover, exclusion could also be considered because of the commission of a serious non-political crime outside the country of refuge prior to one’s admission as a refugee or because of being found guilty of acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

So, to Maltese citizens and tourists, are your minds now at rest?   The would-be refugees will be asked if they are peaceful and have only peaceful intentions, and I guess you will have to take their word for it.

It needs to be ensured that international protection is there only for those who really deserve it. This is necessary to put people’s mind at rest, whether locals or tourists.

I’ll bet the US State Department and Ambassador Kmiec (Republican for Obama) are salivating at the prospect of scooping up more illegal aliens from Malta and resettling them in your neighborhood as they have been doing for years now!

Egypt: more myths exploding about the glorious “democracy” movement

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The other day I reported on an opinion piece where the author asserts that the reason we aren’t hearing much about Egypt and its new and wonderful democracy (under military rule) is because what is happening in Egypt goes against the Far Left media image we have been led to believe.  See my post on the rape of Lara Logan here.   Now see the news about 4000 Muslims attacking a Christian village 30 kilometers from Cairo.  Hat tip: Jerry Gordon

From the Assyrian International News Agency:

(AINA) — A mob of nearly four thousand Muslims has attacked Coptic homes this evening in the village of Soul, Atfif in Helwan Governorate, 30 kilometers from Cairo, and torched the Church of St. Mina and St. George. There are conflicting reports about the whereabouts of the Church pastor Father Yosha and three deacons who were at church; some say they died in the fire and some say they are being held captive by the Muslims inside the church.

Witnesses report the mob prevented the fire brigade from entering the village. The army, which has been stationed for the last two days in the village of Bromil, 7 kilometers from Soul, initially refused to go into Soul, according to the officer in charge. When the army finally sent three tanks to the village, Muslim elders sent them away, saying that everything was “in order now.”

This is what Shariah Law looks like:

This incident was triggered by a relationship between 40-year-old Copt Ashraf Iskander and a Muslim woman. Yesterday a “reconciliation” meeting was arranged between the relevant Coptic and Muslim families and together with the Muslim elders it was decided that Ashraf Iskander would have to leave the village because Muslims torched his house.

The father of the Muslim woman was killed by his cousin because he did not kill his daughter to preserve the family’s honor, which led the woman’s brother to avenge the death of his father by killing the cousin. The village Muslims blamed the Christians.

Shame on the Organizer’s Forum (Wade Rathke and Drummond Pike) with Casa de Maryland and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights for having anything to do with bringing on the Revolution in Africa and thinking they can help build a workers utopia in tandem with the Muslim Brotherhood—bunch of naive socialists and Marxists who don’t have a clue about the Pandora’s box they have opened.

Abortion doctor who killed Bhutanese refugee might face the death penalty

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is an update of the story I posted here on February 7th entitled ‘Who killed Karnamaya Mongar?–a Bhutanese refugee* from Virginia who was taken by someone to an abortion doctor in Philadelphia specializing in “poor women.”

From Reuters:

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Philadelphia prosecutors paved the way in court on Wednesday toward seeking the death penalty for a doctor accused of killing live, viable babies at his abortion clinic.

Prosecutors filed notice that the case against Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who faces multiple charges of first-degree murder, meets the standards of a death penalty case, said assistant District Attorney Christine Wechsler outside Common Pleas court.

[….]

“What we mean is that he regularly and illegally delivered live, viable babies in the third trimester of pregnancy and then murdered these newborns by severing their spinal cords with scissors,” it said in its 260-page findings last month.

“The medical practice by which he carried out this business was a filthy fraud in which he overdosed his patients with dangerous drugs, spread venereal disease among them with infected instruments, perforating their wombs and bowels and on at least two occasions caused their deaths,” it said.

If anyone is following this case closely, please let me know what court documents say about how Mrs. Mongar got to Philadelphia and found Gosnell in the first place.  By the way, just a reminder that a Catholic Resettlement agency in Virginia came under fire in 2008 because a staffer facilitated an abortion for an unaccompanied minor in their care, here.

Just like refugees don’t know in their first months here how to write to their Congressmen, they also would be hard pressed to find an ‘affordable’ abortion doctor without the assistance of their resettlement agencies or someone who worked or volunteered there.

* The so-called  Bhutanese refugees are really of Nepali origin and have been living in camps in Nepal (which won’t take its ethnic Nepali people back) so we are taking them—the goal is for the US to take 60,000 or more over 5 years.  Here are the numbers for FY2010 at the Cultural Orientation Resource Center.  Note they are not up to date with their statistics—they should have the first quarter of FY 2011 posted and they don’t.  I suspect they don’t want the public to know how many refugees are still coming in spite of difficult economic times.