Longtime readers know we follow food stamp fraud as a hobby here at RRW. Most fraud stories we come across don’t involve refugees per se (mostly other legal immigrants of one sort or another) and we have been posting them over to the facebook page, ‘Diversity’s Dark Side’, here.
Now, here is a story, thanks again to ‘pungentpeppers,’ from earlier this month about Burmese in Lansing, Michigan catering to the large Burmese population there and offering an opportunity for the refugees to cash in on food stamp fraud.
Just a reminder that we have, in the last ten years, resettled about 100,000 Burmese in the US. Give a large number of certain ethnic groups a few years and they will begin to figure out how to scam good ol’ Uncle Sam.
From the Lansing State Journal (emphasis mine):
GRAND RAPIDS — The co-owner of a now-closed Lansing Asian grocery store has pleaded guilty in federal court to food stamp fraud and will pay about $41,000 in restitution, court records show.
The case against Aye Aye Soe, who owned Golden Burma Asian Grocery and Gifts with her husband, began last year with prosecutors alleging nearly $300,000 in food stamp fraud. But a plea agreement filed in March says the federal government lost between $30,000 and $70,000.
Attorney: It was a cultural misunderstanding!
Soe’s attorney, Bill Hankins, said his client made mistakes that resulted from not paying attention to detail. He also said there were cultural misunderstandings.
A plea hearing was held Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids. Soe admitted paying customers cash in exchange for swiping their Bridge Cards for a larger amount. [She will pay restitution but serve no jail time!—ed]
Then get this next section of the report! If it was needed for their “Burmese culture,” it is somehow o.k. ? Since when are blankets and makeup something especially culturally important to the Burmese? Doesn’t everyone need blankets and makeup? And, why is that any excuse ?
Hankins said Soe, a native of Burma who has become a U.S. citizen, mostly served the area’s large Burmese community.
[….]
Soe also admitted allowing customers to use their Bridge Cards to buy items that were not eligible for reimbursement, court documents say. Hankins said items included blankets and makeup — something he said is important in Burmese culture.
Ninety percent of the stores business was through the use of food stamp debit cards (!), and since most of the customers were Burmese, sure looks like it is widespread food stamp fraud in the Burmese community of Lansing, MI.
Soe’s store on South Cedar Street opened in 2009, according to the indictment. Hankins said it was forced to close late last year after the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the food stamp program, removed the store’s Bridge Card machine. He said 90 percent of the store’s business was through Bridge Cards.
Ah, America! The land of easy cash from the Bridge Card machines!
For our extensive food stamp fraud archive, click here.