Day: January 18, 2014

Ahmed and Abdulmalik busted in Baltimore food stamp fraud scheme

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This one was a $1.5 million rip-off of the US taxpayer.

The Baltimore Sun doesn’t say much, but here (below) is the entire FBI press release that I found informative.  Note that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was involved, so there must be an immigration angle to the case.   But, of course, no mention of details regarding where these alleged crooks came from!  We have our guesses!  LOL! See a pattern?

For new readers this is a hobby here at RRW.  See our previous report on another big bust in our home state. It is good to know that even in blue Maryland the feds are ferreting out the fraudsters.

From the FBI yesterday (highlights are mine):

BALTIMORE—Abdulmalik Abdulla, age 37, and Ahmed Mohssen, age 53, both of Baltimore, were arrested today on federal charges of conspiracy to commit food stamp fraud and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to illegally redeem food stamp benefits in exchange for cash. The criminal complaint filed today alleges that the defendants, who operate Sam’s NY grocery store on North Milton Street in Baltimore, received more than $1.5 million in federal payments for transactions in which they did not provide any food but instead split the proceeds with food stamp recipients. Federal agents arrested the defendants and executed search warrants at the store and related locations today. In separate cases, 10 defendants were charged with food stamp fraud in September 2013; four of those defendants have pleaded guilty, and the others are awaiting trial.

The arrests were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge William G. Squires, Jr. of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, Northeast Region; and Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“Retailers who trade food stamp credits for cash are on notice that federal authorities are on their trail,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “Taxpayers fund the program to provide food for needy recipients, not to turn retail store cash registers into ATMs.”

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), previously known as the Food Stamp Program, is administered by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), together with state agencies. The program funds low-income individuals to allow them to obtain a more nutritious diet. In Maryland, the program provides eligible individuals with an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card called the Independence Card, which operates like a debit card. Recipients use the EBT card to purchase approved food items from participating retailers.

Retailers must apply to and be approved by FNS to participate in the program. Authorized retailers use a point-of-sale terminal that checks the EBT card information and deducts the cash value of the purchase from the customer’s SNAP benefit balance. SNAP reimbursements are paid to retailers through electronic funds transfers. Retailers bill the government in return for providing approved food items. SNAP retailers, including the defendants, receive instruction regarding the requirements and regulations of the food stamp program, such as that only eligible food items can be exchanged for EBT benefits and that a retailer may never exchange EBT benefits for cash or non-food items.

The criminal complaint alleges that the defendants exchanged EBT benefits for cash, typically paying half the value of the EBT benefits in cash. As a result of unlawful cash transactions, the defendants allegedly obtained more than $1.5 million in EBT deposits for transactions in which the store did not provide food.

The defendants face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each count of wire fraud and a maximum of five years in prison for conspiracy to commit food stamp fraud. The defendants are expected to have initial appearances at 3:45 p.m. today in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.  [Wire fraud??? Does that mean money left the country?—ed]

A criminal complaint is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by criminal complaint is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the USDA Office of Inspector General and FBI for their work in the investigation. U.S. Attorney Rosenstein expressed appreciation to Secretary Ted Dallas and the Maryland Department of Human Resources, as well as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services-Office of Fraud Detection and National Security for their assistance in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorney Kathleen O. Gavin, who is prosecuting the case.

See our extensive archive of similar cases from sea to shining sea!

Related:  See Washington Times Golden Hammer award earlier this month.  And, from Breitbart—able-bodied people with no dependents signing up in droves—have they figured out how to use the cards for cash?  I bet they have.

Appleton, Wisconsin alderman dares question city’s readiness for more refugees

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Uh oh!  The fur is flying (or something is hitting the fan!) in Wisconsin where an elected official is bucking the Mayor and other city council members about the plans for US State Department resettlement contractor World Relief*** (subcontractor World Relief of Fox Valley) to bring in more third world refugees from Burma (Myanmar), Iraq and the Congo.

I told you about Appleton here last November and it’s a post worth re-visiting.  Check, out the Mayor and his diversity coordinator!

In this story the Mayor says like a petulant child:   “These are the diverse people I want in our city.”

Alderman Jirschele called for immediate suspension of refugee resettlement in Appleton.

Readers need to help spread this latest news about one (rare!) brave alderman standing up to the ‘diversity is beautiful’ crowd that has launched willy-nilly (as usual) into resettling more refugees before a city is capable of handling large numbers of poor and needy people.

The US State Department HATES news stories like this one where someone dares to say NO!—because consequently as the news gets out, others, elsewhere in America, learn that there is resistance!

From the Northwestern.com (emphasis mine):

APPLETON — An Appleton alderman says he has serious concerns about 75 refugees relocating in Appleton this year, setting off a furious response from City Hall.

Jeff Jirschele, who represents a portion of the city’s south side, said this week that planning has been lax and the region needs to be sure it’s prepared for the challenges with the resettlement — which is expected to bring people here from Congo, Iraq and Myanmar.

“I’m worried about these people and our social safety net when they arrive,” Jirschele said. “These are real people and real lives … we have no room to flounder on housing or medical care despite the best intentions of the groups involved.”

Jirschele authored a resolution with some tough language aimed at World Relief Fox Valley, the Oshkosh-based group shepherding the resettlement, and its selection of Appleton for a resettlement city.

He said the group had “not been vetted” and called for an immediate suspension of all city efforts in the relocation until a group could identify the impact of absorbing the refugees into the community.

“I understand it’s emblematic of our community to help people, but we need to slow down and take a breath,” Jirschele said. “I’m already hearing some folks that think this resolution is cold-hearted, but the reality is good intentions aren’t good enough to produce a successful outcome.”

Alderman hits a nerve!

Jirschele’s sentiment hit a nerve Thursday among fellow aldermen and Mayor Tim Hanna.

Hanna said he spoke for all City Hall departments in criticizing both the tone and content of Jirschele’s resolution.

Read on.  A representative from World Relief says that most refugees are not on food stamps.  Not so, from the latest available figures, 63% of refugees nationwide are on food stamps and I doubt the numbers are somehow much better in Wisconsin.

***So what is World Relief?

Just a little bit about World Relief whose full legal name is World Relief Corporation of National Association of Evangelicals.   It is one of nine major refugee contractors the US State Department has chosen to resettle refugees.  The State Department pays them by the head for each refugee they resettle.  In turn, World Relief contracts two dozen subcontractors including the one in this news story—World Relief Fox Valley.

It is very hard to track the federal dollars that flow from the primary contractor to subcontractors (there is no financial auditing done by the feds).  I could not find a Form 990 for the Oshkosh/Appleton subcontractor, but World Relief’s most recent Form 990 is here.  Note on page 9 that their income that year was $51.8 MILLION and you (the taxpayer) paid them $34.1 million of that.  This is not a charitable effort from the goodness of their Christian hearts and pocketbooks—it is big business funded by you!

One item that caught my eye on that same page 9 was a line in the income ledger that is also YOUR money.  They received $1.3 million for “travel loan commission.”   What that means is that taxpayers paid the airfare (in a loan program) for the refugees to fly to your city and it’s up to the contractor to collect the loan from the refugees.  When they are successful (and we don’t know how many loans go uncollected) they keep a cut.  In this particular year, the cut was $1.3 million of taxpayer money that also went to the contractor on top of the $34.1 million!  Racket huh!

And, on page 10 note that they pay out approximately $25 million for salaries and benefits/other payroll expenses.

For more about how refugee resettlement works, visit our fact sheet here.

And, one more thing, once your city is deemed “welcoming” these contractors are paid to do the paperwork to bring the family members of those they had previously resettled and there is no end in sight!

They are at it again! “Active Voice” promotes another immigrant propaganda film; will air on Al Jazeera

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Longtime readers may remember “Active Voice” as the Far Left/Open borders promoters of that propaganda film about Shelbyville, TN which portrayed local critics of the growing Somali population there as a bunch of redneck boobs who eventually saw the light and reached out with “welcoming” arms to the Africans drawn there by Tyson Foods (looking for cheap legal laborers with the help of the US State Department).

The US State Department even showed the Shelbyville film throughout Africa and Europe!

We have an extensive archive on “Welcome to Shelbyville” here.  Be sure to see this post in which reporter Brian Mosely sets the record straight about how he was misled by the filmmakers and how the filmmakers/promoters demonized him and the city of Shelbyville.  Mosely in 2011:

I never imagined three and a half years ago that simply telling a story honestly could lead to being demonized on national television, in a film sponsored by our own government, no less.

Active Voice propagandists working on Shelbyville strategy “prototype” in 2011.
http://www.socialbrite.org/2011/03/17/a-story-driven-web-platform-for-communities/

And, you should know about some of the wealthy people who give big bucks to Active Voice, check out this post.

This is how the Left does it!  Active Voice makes or uses a ‘diversity is beautiful’ film to be shown on Al Jazeera and in your local schools, and they build a whole public relations campaign around it.  Behind it all are one-worlders (Soros!) whose goal it is to eliminate borders throughout the world and to provide slave laborers to their big business buddies as a side benefit.

Here is an idea, let’s make a film about the brutal Utah murder case and build a PR campaign around it!   We could call it Beware immigrant rapists, killers and crooks among us!  Time for us to tell “stories” too!  Our message would be to strengthen our sovereignty and preserve our culture by making it more difficult to get access to America.

Speaking of crooks, I’ve got another juicy immigrant food stamp fraud story to get to this morning.

Utah murder trial ends with guilty verdict for Burmese Muslim refugee

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It was a trial that riveted readers of The Salt Lake Tribune for the last couple of weeks, but barely made news outside of Utah.  Esar Met, a Burmese Muslim man, was arrested in 2008 for the brutal sexual assault and murder of a 7-year-old Burmese girl in their Salt Lake City apartment building.   A jury found him guilty yesterday.

Met had only been in the US one month and had been assigned to live in a building filled with fellow Burmese, but they were all Christians and roommates described the tension that created among them.  They had lived in separate parts of the camp in Thailand.

Hser Ner Moo’s father Cartoon Wah (right) said after the verdict: “My only daughter is still no more.”
http://www.ksl.com/?sid=22985680

From The Salt Lake Tribune:

He lured the child with games and treats. He made her laugh, helped her feel safe and welcome in the depths of his basement home.

But on March 31, 2008, a jury ruled Friday, kindness turned to violence as Esar Met sexually assaulted, beat and killed 7-year-old Hser Ner Moo.

Jurors entered the courtroom Friday after more than five hours of deliberation looking haggard and spent. They had sat through nine days of testimony, 41 witnesses and more than two hours of closing arguments that morning.

Two female jurors held tissues at the ready. Their eyes looked as if they had already been crying.

In the gallery, packed with friends and family of the young victim, a tense silence filled the air, punctuated only by the quiet sobs of Pearlly Wa — the mother who lost her only daughter nearly six years ago.

Met was convicted of child kidnapping and aggravated murder, both first-degree felonies that could land the 27-year-old Burmese refugee in prison for the rest of his life.

[….]

He had been in the country just one month, and would spend the next six years behind bars awaiting trial.

He could get 20 years to life when he is sentenced in May.  Scary thought that he could ever be released.  And, too bad for Utah taxpayers, maybe they should appeal to Congress for an extra stipend to pay for his trial and for the next 20 years of his life since it was the federal government—the US State Department and its contractors (Catholic Charities?)—that dumped him in Utah.

By the way, over the years The Salt Lake Tribune has acted like a real investigative news outlet, even sending a reporter to Thailand back in 2008.  One thing reporter Julia Lyon learned is that Met was considered “not right” in the camp, so who decided he would be a good citizen of America?

For new readers, all of our previous coverage of the case, going back years, may be found by clicking here.