I’m still trying to work through my backlog of food stamp fraud busts and picking only those that have some new angle.
Here is one from Gainesville earlier this month. No Mohammeds this time only Sharifa and two Syeds (pushing my luck with the Islamophobia police!)
Note that there are warrants out for some who sold their benefits.
The Gainesville Sun:
Police arrested 31 people and served at least three search warrants Thursday as part of an extensive food stamp fraud investigation.
The Gainesville Police Department around noon shut down the S.M.I. Food Mart at 404 S. Main St. after arresting the owner, Syed Hossain, 47, and his wife, Sharifa Mino, 30, inside the store. Police said they arrested the couple’s son, Syed Island, 21, at the family’s home.
The family members and others arrested Thursday were charged with multiple offenses related to food stamp fraud and racketeering.
Warrants also were issued for others accused of accepting food stamp benefits illegally and for those who allowed their benefits to be used illegally.
The Syeds used stollen benefits to buy things to sell in their store (at least they weren’t sending your money to the Middle East this time!–ed).
[…..]
At the S.M.I. store, investigators said food stamp recipients would turn over their EBT cards to the owners and in return receive half of the value of the card in cash. If the card had a balance of $100, the card carrier would receive $50 in cash, and the store would have access to the full $100 balance.
Plourde said the Hossain family then would take the card to larger stores, such as Target, WalMart or Sam’s, and buy items in bulk to sell in their store.
Most fraud occurs in small stores. 597 convicted of trafficking in last three years.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program for about 45 million people, approximately $330 million is fraudulently diverted from the $64.7 billion food stamp program annually. Most of the abuse happens in the nearly 200,000 small stores that are among the 234,000 stores authorized to accept food stamps. [One solution—only allow big stores to accept food stamps!—ed]
Over the past three years, according to the Office of the Inspector General of the USDA, 597 people were convicted of food stamp trafficking, and courts ordered nearly $198 million be paid by the violators in the form of fines, forfeiture or restitution. (LOL! But, how much of the $198 million was collected?—ed)
Read the comments to this story at the Gainesville Sun.