Posted on 09/30/2015 10:05:08 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
Convenience store owner Vida Ofori Causey out of Worcester, Mass. was charged in federal court Monday after pleading guilty to $3.6 million worth of food stamp fraud.
According to authorities, Causey abused the program between 2010 and 2014. Food stamps, officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is run by local and federal agencies. It is overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). She was able to scam the program by buying food stamp benefits from receipts for half the actual value.
Causey purchased the benefits at a discounted value of approximately fifty cents for every SNAP dollar, a press release from Department of Justice stated. By so doing, Causey caused the USDA to electronically deposit into a bank account controlled by her the full face value of the SNAP benefits fraudulently obtained.
As a result, recipients had cash on hand to buy restricted items. The restricted items could include alcohol, cigarettes and even drugs. The program is supposed to be used to provide food to low-come individuals and families. In total, Causey defrauded the USDA for approximately $3,638,900.
SNAP is the nations largest food-assistance program. According to a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the program has increased from 17 million participants in 2000 to nearly 47 million in 2014.
The improved economy has helped decrease the number of participants in recent years. The Congressional Budget Office found, since participation hit its peak in December 2012, the number of people receiving benefits has declined by more than 1.5 million.
Nevertheless, the size alone has prompted concern among many lawmakers. In response, there have been many different proposals on the federal and local level to help prevent abuse.
I suppose a rider on the scam could ask the card holder to buy certain food items on the card for him/her, and then pay the card holder a discounted amount for the items.
Kool Aid is used generically now,like Kleenex,Scotch Tape,and Band Aid.
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The people taking potshots from the trees delivered a few lethal doses of their own...
The feds issue $1,000 worth of food stamps....I buy them from people for $.50 on the dollar....they buy cigs. and drugs with their $.50.....I have $.50 to spend on anything I want...that's $500.00....They spend their $500.00, I spend my $500, the gov't is out the original $1,000.....it makes no difference at all where it was spent.
Correction: And obviously a fata$$
Another legal alien?
This is the standard rate for food stamp fraud. Everybody knows it. And there are convenience stores in EVERY neighborhood which perform this "service".
Of course, it's just as easy to accomplish completely underground: someone hands a friend a few 20's, grabs their friend's food stamp card, and goes to Winn Dixie or Publix and spends twice as much as they handed their friend.
Laws preventing the practice are inherently unenforceable. It's exactly why you shouldn't have widespread government programs like this. Virtually everybody who has food stamps, at some point, has committed this "crime" with a friend in a pinch.
It's the kind of government program which allows so much blatant fraud, with virtually no way of enforcing the law, that fighting it in any meaningful way is simply not feasible.
And the WHOLE country knows exactly what is going on.
So the store owner pays $500 to get $1,000.
And the person selling the card for $500 loses $500 in buying power
but gains the ability to use the $500 to buy things he can’t with the original card.
So I see a gain of $500 for the store owner
and a loss of of $500 for the card holder
AFTER the government has dispensed the money.
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