Like John Corzine 
Posted on 12/14/2013 8:18:46 AM PST by raccoonradio
Man found giving cash to EBT food stamp card users
\ SALEM (MA)— An average purchase by the user of an electronic benefits “food stamp” card, shopping at a Stop & Shop was about $33 back in 2010 and 2011.
But at the tiny Boston Street Market in Salem, more than 80 percent of those transactions were for at least $100 — despite the store’s limited inventory, a prosecutor said yesterday.
In fact, between that store and J&M Mini Mart in Lynn, there were more than $800,000 in such transactions in a year, prosecutor Phil Mallard told a Salem Superior Court judge yesterday.
Yesterday, the owner of both of those stores, Peter Jhonny Limat, 38, of Lynn, pleaded guilty to electronic funds transfer fraud during a hearing in Salem Superior Court. The prosecutor is asking a judge to send Limat to prison for three to five years.
Mallard described how an undercover investigator visited the two stores more than a dozen times in 2011, and was able to obtain cash with the card, which was designated as a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or “SNAP” card, good only for the purchase of food. The program is the successor to the food stamps program.
Mallard said the investigator was able to get cash at the two stores, which then recorded the transactions as food sales. The store would be paid a “fee” from the cash proceeds.
Most of the transactions were for amounts ranging from $100 to $200, said the prosecutor.
The total amount paid to the undercover investigator was just over $2,000, said Mallard.
The volume of activity at the two stores suggested that the undercover investigator wasn’t the only one using the businesses as an ATM, Mallard said.
But when it came time to admit to the allegations yesterday, Limat, in a thick Haitian accent, appeared to quarrel with the facts.
“People would say give me cash, I don’t have time to go to the ATM,” Limat told Judge Howard Whitehead.
“I didn’t know it was a crime,” Limat said.
His attorney, Geoffrey Nathan, is urging Whitehead to impose probation for his client, a suggestion that has already been rejected by two other judges.
To bolster his case, Nathan called Limat’s wife, who had come to court with their teenage autistic son and their pastor, to testify. She told Whitehead that she has no idea who will care for their children if Limat goes to prison, since she works full time.
Under questioning by Nathan, she said the couple is behind on their mortgage, which has a balance of $17,000, on the Lynn home they purchased in 2005.
Under questioning by the prosecutor, however, she also revealed that the couple owns a BMW.
The pastor of Limat’s church also took the stand to support Limat’s bid for probation, telling the judge that Limat is a Sunday School teacher who tithes (a religious practice of giving 10 percent of one’s income to the church).
But he was forced to acknowledge that Limat typically gives the church $25,000 a year as a tithe, and that over the past decade he had donated $250,000.
After hearing from the witnesses, Whitehead said he wants more information about Limat and his finances before deciding what sentence to impose.
But in the last two years, she ramped it up sharply, about fivefold, and got caught.
We paid for this.
People use these electronic cards to barter for literally everything.
The other night someone used the card to buy 15 pizzas at a convenience store along with a slew of energy drinks. (Rather pricey). The guy behind this gal had cases of beer. A midnight party run. I doubt they were just getting off second shift.
Hmmmmm...Makes you wonder how many really smart ones there are in the system. Ones that live unostentiously, sock their ill gotten gains away, taper off, stop before their pensions are ripe and, poof!, disappear.
Like John Corzine
Hey Howie,
We need to make them go back to the old system, except make the food-stamps the size of roadmaps.
That way, they could be spotted from 100 yards away, merchants wouldn’t want to screw with them, and the stigma of using them could be restored.
I forget how they caught her but we changed a lot of policies.
These are easy pickings. Almost every damn one of those small neighborhood shops does this in the North Shore area. Chelsea, Revere, Malden, Lynn - the place is littered with multi-generational crooks.
I'm sick of giving my money to thieves.
“People use these electronic cards to barter for literally everything.”
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The local Market here has an ATM machine with a sign on the front which states EBT cards welcome. WTH?
A couple in my town were just plain stupid. Making transactions on their front porch. http://www.foxcarolina.com/story/24163058/arrest-made-in-cherokee-county-ebt-card-fraud-investigation
Don’t know how many times me and other people have to tell people this but.....Some EBT cards are double loaded. They have 2 different loads on them, one for cash and one for food stamps. If they are receiving cash grants (welfare) it is loaded on the same card as the food stamps. You can use the cash part of the card almost anywhere since it is like a debit card.
Probably going to the same party as this person: 
Disgusting isn’t it. I wonder how many volumes could be written on this. Everyone seems to have a story. I don’t know why they don’t publicize this kind of fraud on TV. . . . going into detail regarding the rip offs! It could actually be a bounty hunter type reality show . . .
the problem is that a lot of states don’t seem to care
Almost never had lobster and porterhouse steak during those years!
Never had an "EBT card" either. It was my own money that was left over after the rent and other bills got paid.
It really is infuriating to see people on food stamps enjoying lobster and premium cuts of steak whenever they want on my dime.
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