XPost: alt.fraud, ne.politics, alt.politics.republicans   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics   
   From: jdutton@uicu.edu   
      
   Two Boston store owners have been charged in a $7 million Massachusetts   
   SNAP benefits "trafficking" scheme, federal authorities announced   
   Wednesday.   
      
   Antonio Bonheur, 74, and 21-year-old Saul Alisme are each facing one   
   count of food stamp fraud. Investigators said their tiny grocery stores   
   were getting up to half a million dollars in SNAP redemptions per month,   
   more than full-service supermarkets.   
      
   The two businesses, Jesula Variety Store and Saul Mache Mixe Store,   
   shared a single storefront on Blue Hill Avenue in Mattapan. Court   
   documents described the Jesula location as "effectively a closet with   
   shelves and a register" that sold some dry foods like beans and rice,   
   but didn't even have refrigeration.   
      
   Investigators said cameras showed that customers didn't leave the stores   
   with any grocery bags even though they had supposedly purchased more   
   than $100 worth of food.   
      
   "These were not supermarkets. They were not full-service groceries. It   
   would be a huge stretch to even call them convenience stores," U.S.   
   Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley said at a news conference   
   Wednesday. "The only thing convenient about these stores was how easy it   
   was to commit SNAP benefit fraud."   
      
   The defendants are accused of exchanging SNAP benefits for cash and   
   alcohol. It's also alleged that they sold meal packs from the nonprofit   
   "Feed My Starving Children" that are supposed to be sent to charities   
   overseas and never sold in stores.   
      
   Foley claims the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance   
   didn't do enough to stop "millions of dollars in losses."   
      
   "This was not a sophisticated fraud scene, and it didn't have to be   
   because a lack of oversight was all that was needed to allow it to   
   happen," Foley said.   
      
   Gov. Maura Healey's office said the state notified the U.S. Department   
   of Agriculture about suspicious transactions at Jesula, where the vast   
   majority of fraud is alleged to have occurred. The store began accepting   
   SNAP before Healey took office.   
      
   "My administration reported this suspicious activity to the federal   
   government for investigation and prosecution over a year ago," Healey   
   said in a statement. "As a former Attorney General and now Governor, I   
   will always support prosecution to the fullest extent of the law for   
   anyone who engages in fraud or abuse of a federal program or any   
   program."   
      
   The Trump administration said earlier this month that it may withhold   
   SNAP benefit dollars from Democratic-led states that do not hand over   
   personal information about food stamp recipients, including names and   
   immigration status.   
      
   https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/snap-massachusetts-fraud-boston/   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)