Food Stamp/SNAP Fraud

What makes someone a good person vs. a bad person? Good people are usually trustworthy, responsible, generous, polite, kind to others and honest.  Bad people tend to be selfish, irresponsible, deceptive and have a sense of entitlement. Despite attempting to steal $4.5 million from the Supplemental...

One of the most fraudulent uses of food stamps is selling them in exchange for cash or other unapproved items. A recent Missouri case focuses on two individuals selling methamphetamine (definitely an unapproved item) in exchange for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Co-defendants Melanie...

A New Jersey couple is rolling the dice on a court decision as to whether their bankruptcy status protects them from having to repay the federal nutrition benefits program that prosecutors say they defrauded. Mustafa and Rahime Ozturk, both in their 30s, were charged last...

Four men in Lansing, Mich., who used their Speedwagon party store to defraud the federal food stamp program became familiar with a paddywagon after law enforcement caught up with them. Wine, beer, tobacco and food stamps are not usually associated together....

You’ve probably heard stories about the “one” that got away. (They always tend to be described as some monstrosity that has never been seen before.) The owner of a fish market in northeast Rochester, New York tried to get away with a monstrous $1.4...

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), provides government benefits to supplement the food budget of needy families so they can purchase healthy food and move towards self-sufficiency. Individuals must qualify to receive these benefits, so it’s particularly egregious that an economic support specialist with...

Some people just don’t know when to quit. A Newark, N.J., store owner had already been banned from participating in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program when he put his grocery store in another person’s name to get back into swindling the federal program....

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service provides explicit instructions on what Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits can and cannot buy. The idea behind the government-funded program is to provide beneficiaries with money to purchase items including bread, cereal, fruit, vegetables, meats, fish, poultry,...

 The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is pretty clear about how government food stamp benefits can be used. The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), which administers the program, prefers that beneficiaries buy healthy stuff like breads, cereals, fruits and vegetables, meats, fish, poultry products...

Apparently, the world’s oldest cheese was recently found in an Egyptian tomb by archeologists. It is estimated to be 3,200 years old. (Can you imagine what that must have smelled like?) In addition to having a long storage life, according to a Southeast Portland,...