4 Massachusetts residents charged in $1 million multi-state SNAP, pandemic benefits fraud scheme
Four Massachusetts residents are accused of using more than 100 stolen identities to get over $1 million in food stamps and pandemic-era unemployment benefits in a multi-state fraud scheme, federal prosecutors say.
U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley said stolen identities from Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico were used to obtain $440,000 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits from Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
The defendants also allegedly submitted fraudulent documents in order to receive more than $700,000 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance from Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Washington and Nevada.
"It is no secret there is rampant fraud across this nation," Foley said at a news conference in Boston Tuesday. "The charges announced today are just a snapshot of the bigger picture, not just in Massachusetts but across the country."
Foley said her office is adding a fraud coordinator "as a result of the rampant benefit fraud we are seeing here in Massachusetts." In December, two Massachusetts store owners were charged in a $7 million SNAP benefits trafficking scheme.
"You should anticipate seeing more and more of these cases coming here in Massachusetts," Foley said.
WBZ-TV has reached out to Gov. Maura Healey's administration for comment.
Massachusetts residents charged in fraud case
Three defendants charged with conspiracy to use, transfer, acquire and possess SNAP benefits are due to appear in federal court in Worcester on Tuesday. They are 42-year-old Joel Vicioso Fernandez of Fitchburg, and two Venezuelan nationals living in Leominster: 32-year-old Roman Yequiz Fernandez and 24-year-old Coralba Albarracin Siniva.
A fourth man, 37-year-old Raul Fernandez Vicioso of Fitchburg, is charged with conspiracy to commit SNAP fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, SNAP benefit fraud and aiding and abetting and money laundering. He will be in court at a later date.
The investigation centered on the El Primo restaurant in Leominster, which is owned by Fernandez Vicioso. Prosecutors say the defendants used SNAP benefit cards they fraudulently obtained to buy expensive bulk food items for the restaurant.
"The defendants then prepared and sold the meals at El Primo Restaurant at a complete profit, later wiring the fraud proceeds, among other places, to individuals living in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic," the U.S. Attorney's office said in a statement.
Counterfeit passports, EBT cards, handwritten lists of identities and SNAP-related mailings were found inside the restaurant and Fernandez Vicioso's home, prosecutors said.
The restaurant was also used as a residential address in pandemic unemployment assistance applications, along with the stolen identifies of 29 victims.
Rhode Island notified Massachusetts about fraud suspicions
Foley said the state of Rhode Island picked up on the fraud in June 2024 when it was discovered that SNAP applications for 117 people were coming from two apartments in Rhode Island. She said Rhode Island then contacted the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance for more information, and Massachusetts identified more than $115,000 in SNAP benefits given to the stolen identities.
Foley said the U.S. Department of Agriculture's inspector general "is not aware of the Massachusetts DTA making any referral report to the USDA concerning this theft."
"They turned those cards off," Foley said. "Just shutting those off is not going stop that person from going and obtaining new stolen identities and continuing the same fraud."
WBZ-TV's Louisa Moller asked Foley if there's anything about Massachusetts that makes the state vulnerable to fraud.
"Any state that allows online applications without any ability to verify that the documents that are being submitted are authentic is leaving itself open to abuse and to be defrauded," Foley said.
