DOJ Indicts 2, Including Haitian National, in $7 Million Food Stamp Fraud Scheme

The two received ‘extraordinarily high’ amounts of food stamp payments despite the relatively small size of their storefronts, prosecutors alleged.

Antonio Bonheur (L) and Saul Alisme (R) are seen in undated mugshots. Department of Justice via The Epoch Times

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that two men in Massachusetts were indicted in an alleged $7 million food stamp fraud scheme

Antonio Bonheur, 74, of Mattapan, and Saul Alisme, 21, of Hyde Park, were charged with one count of food stamp fraud, said the DOJ in a news release on Dec. 17.

The DOJ said Bonheur is a naturalized U.S. citizen, and Alisme is a Haitian national who has lawful permanent residency in the United States, according to charges that were filed by federal prosecutors against the two men earlier this week.

The two defendants’ monthly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps, redemptions had ranged from $100,000 to $500,000 per month, the DOJ said. They also are accused of selling donated food intended for “food-insecure children” who lived abroad, it said.

Alisme and Bonheur, respectively, owned the Saul Mache Mixe Store and Jesula Variety Store that both operated within a street-facing storefront in Boston’s Mattapan neighborhood, the court papers said. Both establishments are described as relatively small in size.

However, despite the size, the “stores allegedly exhibited extraordinarily high SNAP redemption volumes, far beyond what could reasonably be supported by legitimate food sales,” according to the DOJ, which added that “transaction data allegedly revealed that the stores had exceptionally large and anomalous average monthly SNAP redemption rates when compared to similarly situated businesses of the same size, type, and location.”

While the two men were allegedly receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in SNAP redemptions per month, in comparison, a “full-service supermarket in the same area redeems approximately $82,000 per month in SNAP benefits,” the DOJ said.

The federal food program is used by about 42 million people, or approximately one in eight Americans, in usually lower-income households. Recipients get an average of $190 a month per person.

Assistance via SNAP became a focal point during the government shutdown that lasted from Oct. 1 until mid-November as the head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on several occasions that the program is rife with fraudulent activity.

An undated photo released by the Justice Department shows the inside of the store front that two men charge with food stamp fraud allegedly operated. Department of Justice via The Epoch Times

In an interview last month, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said that around 5,000 dead people are receiving SNAP payments and that another 500,000 are getting benefits through the program twice.

Earlier this month, Rollins announced that all USDA programs, including food stamps, will be reviewed to determine whether only legal citizens are getting benefits. The secretary also said that roughly two-dozen states will be compelled into compliance by the USDA.

This week, a federal judge ruled that the department must extend a deadline for states to implement new requirements on SNAP benefits and paused a portion of a law mandating that states have to stop sending food stamps to certain immigrants. Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia had sued the USDA over the guidance, arguing that the agency wrongly mandated a waiting period for green card holders.

It’s not clear whether Alisme or Bonheur have attorneys.