Federal prosecutors took action against more than 40 people accused of stealing from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the Justice Department said Wednesday. Officials put the SNAP losses in those cases at nearly $42 million.
Vice President JD Vance, Attorney General Todd Blanche and Agriculture Department officials announced the results at a news conference in Cincinnati, the New York Post reported. The Justice Department released the case list the same day.
What the surge found
The Justice Department’s new Fraud Division ran the push from Sept. 1 through Wednesday with the USDA and its inspector general. Thirteen U.S. attorney’s offices and the Utah attorney general’s office took part.
- Total: Schemes tied to the defendants caused nearly $45 million in intended losses, the department said. About $42 million of that involved SNAP benefits.
- Largest case: A grand jury in Ohio indicted two Chicago store operators. Prosecutors say their stores ran thousands of fake transactions on stolen Ohio EBT accounts, with an intended loss of about $29.7 million.
- Atlanta case: A rapper and social media influencer known as Shawty Dred was indicted Oct. 7 in Georgia. Prosecutors link more than 500 Georgia EBT cards to him and estimate $4.4 million in stolen benefits. He was arrested in Las Vegas on Oct. 13.
- Other cases: They include a Florida farmer who pleaded guilty to a false crop insurance claim, an Oregon ring that bought baby formula with stolen benefits, and Ohio store workers accused of trading benefits for cash and marijuana.
Charges are allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
What officials said
“These schemes siphoned millions from taxpayers and robbed struggling Americans of the benefits they depend on,” Blanche said in the department’s release. Blanche also said the stolen money could have fed about 220,000 people for a month, the New York Post reported.
“SNAP exists to help hungry children eat,” Vance said at the event, according to the Post.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said every case of SNAP fraud hurts both needy families and taxpayers.
ICE arrests
Separately, the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that ICE has started an operation aimed at people in the country illegally who received SNAP benefits. DHS listed five recent arrests and said more would follow. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin called the arrests “just a drop in the bucket.”
Arkansas tie
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas, which covers Southeast Arkansas, was one of the 13 offices in the surge. The Justice Department release did not name an Arkansas case.
The push supports the White House anti-fraud task force led by Vance. iSEARK.com covered the task force’s new fraud tip reward program on Tuesday.
Sources: U.S. Department of Justice; U.S. Department of Homeland Security; New York Post.
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