An alleged scheme that fraudulently obtained almost $7 million in SNAP advantages isn’t any extra after the feds arrested two males who’re accused of working the “criminal enterprise” out of tiny retail shops in Boston.
Antonio Bonheur, 74, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Haiti residing in Mattapan, and Saul Alisme, 21, a Haitian nationwide residing in Hyde Park, face one rely of meals stamp fraud in reference to the scheme.
The defendants’ month-to-month SNAP redemptions allegedly ranged from $100,000 to $500,000 monthly, an quantity that the feds say is bigger than “full-service supermarkets.”
“These men abused one of the government’s most critical safety net programs for their own financial gain,” Massachusetts U.S. Lawyer Leah Foley stated throughout a press convention. “This is taxpayer money meant to keep people from going hungry. These defendants decided to take it for themselves. These defendants exchanged SNAP benefits for cash, which they pocketed.”
Bonheur and Alisme allegedly ran their operation out of Jesula Selection Retailer and Saul Mache Mixe Retailer, each of which they ran as small selection shops inside a single street-facing storefront in Mattapan.
Jesula Selection Retailer, which Bonheur allegedly owned, totaled simply 150 sq. ft, and Saul Mache Mixe Retailer, which Alisme allegedly owned, occupied 500 sq. ft.
Foley famous {that a} typical grocery store can vary from 20,000 to 60,000 sq. ft, have greater than a dozen registers, and make use of quite a few employees. However Bonheur and Alisme’s shops had “one register, no carriages, no hand baskets, and very little food for sale.”
Foley additionally highlighted how “one legitimate supermarket in the same area as these stores redeems approximately $80,000 in SNAP benefits per month.”
“It would be a huge stretch to even call them convenience stores,” Foley stated. “In fact, the only thing convenient about these stores was how easy it was to commit SNAP benefit fraud.”
“Their storefronts were not even large enough to support a legitimate food pantry,” she added. “When someone turns the equivalent of that poorly stocked inventory into a cash exchange turnstile for federal benefits, they are stealing from every taxpayer, and from every family that legitimately relies on this program.”
Charging paperwork embrace transaction knowledge from the enterprise, displaying how solely 10% of SNAP transactions amounted to lower than $40, whereas greater than 70% of transactions exceeded $95. These patterns are additionally “typically associated with large supermarkets,” in line with the feds.
Jesula Selection Retailer started accepting SNAP advantages in September 2021, in line with charging paperwork. Bonheur is accused of fraudulently making use of for SNAP advantages in 2022, claiming to have zero earnings, however he did not listing his possession of the enterprise.
Starting in 2022, Bonheur allegedly collected SNAP advantages, typically conducting transactions at Jesula Selection Retailer, exceeding $95.
Alisme utilized for Saul Mache Mixe Retailer to be a certified SNAP retailer on Feb. 14 this 12 months, with the enterprise starting to simply accept advantages round Could, in line with the feds.
“During undercover operations conducted at both businesses over the course of the investigation,” a launch from Foley’s workplace states, “SNAP benefits were allegedly trafficked for cash on four occasions from Jesula Variety Store and on two occasions from Saul Mache Mixe Store.”
“In each instance,” the discharge provides, “the defendants themselves allegedly worked the cash registers and personally exchanged SNAP benefits for cash. Both stores were also allegedly observed selling liquor in exchange for SNAP benefits.”
The cost of meals stamp fraud better than $100 can result in a sentence of as much as 5 years in jail, three years of supervised launch, and a positive of $250,000.
