While a vast majority of the convenience store and corner market owners are hard-working, family-owned businesses, there is always that small percentage that falls to the temptation of easy money through food stamp fraud. Of those that have been caught and denied access to the food stamp program, you won’t find them at the Local, State, or Federal criminal court levels — only in the USDA/FNS suspension list.
As part of our never-ending quest to properly vet your network of money transmittal agents, our nationwide criminal database search includes Food Stamp violations at the federal and state agency levels for the individual owner of the market, unlike the USDA/FNS list which only provides information on the business name. Oftentimes, we find that unscrupulous business owners relocate using a different business entity name.
A court document outlined one example of how the scheme ran: A convenience store market would buy $5 worth of food, but the owner would charge the customer’s EBT card $75, handing the customer some of the extra cash and keeping the rest. This is referred to as SNAP trafficking.
Fraud additionally happens after previously disqualified merchants have already been removed from the EBT SNAP program because of previous abuse and application misrepresentation, only to lie on their application to be accepted again into the program.
While retailer trafficking and retailer application fraud are primarily pursued by a single federal entity (USDA-FNS), recipient violations. Recipient trafficking and recipient application fraud are pursued by 53 different state agencies. Recipients found to have trafficked may be required to repay the amount trafficked and may be subject to disqualification from receiving SNAP benefits and other penalties. State agencies’ efforts to reduce and punish recipient fraud vary, which is evident, for instance, in state-submitted data on recipient disqualification activities.
USDA Food Stamp Fraud Report
DOE, JOSE
Record Source: EXCLUDED PARTIES LIST SYSTEM – (SAM) SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT LIST
Record Jurisdiction: USA
Category: PATRIOT
Addresses
123 NO MAIN ST., CHICOPEE, MA 01014
FELONY THIRD DEGREE
Disposition: CONVICTED
Dates
File Date: 05/10/2017
Comments
SAM NUMBER: S17MR9B4T8; CREATION DATE: 03/15/2018; TERMINATION DATE: INDEFINITE; CLASSIFICATION: INDIVIDUAL; EXCLUSION PROGRAM: RECIPROCAL; EXCLUSION TYPE: PROHIBITION/RESTRICTION; EXCLUDING AGENCY: USDA-FNS