Authorities made multiple arrests in a food stamp fraud investigation in Alabama where some of the money was being sent overseas to Yemen.
Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Falls announced last week that 20 arrest warrants on 257 charges were filed for Wednesday and a series of raids were performed on 11 Alabama convenience stores.
The charges range from fraudulent use of a credit card, theft of property and public assistance fraud.
AL.com reports, the massive probe targeted those who allegedly have been cheating the food stamp system to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars and sending at least some of the profits to Yemen.
Central to the scheme were Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards, a government-issued debit card that replaced food stamps issued through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Falls said they learned owners of several convenience stores in the Birmingham, Alabama area had been buying EBT cards from those who have been issued the cards for roughly 50 cents on the dollar.
Once in possession of the cards the storeowners and managers would then go to a wholesale store where they would buy goods and bring them back to their stores to sell at an inflated price.
“Several of the store owners are Yemenese and in conjunction with this, the investigation revealed that these same persons were sending wire funds - cash back to Yemen.”
In return, the person who sold their EBT card now had cash to buy items restricted from purchases under the SNAP system, such as alcohol, tobacco and drugs.
"They're selling their cards to get those things,'' Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Raulston told AL.com.
"Part of the problem, in my opinion, is now they don't have their food stamps card so they don't have the money to take care of their families or themselves,'' Raulston said. "I think it's a huge cycle of remaining impoverished."
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