The Daily Freeman has been publishing some incredible stories about an ongoing effort to bust participants in a really simple scam: According to police, a Midtown gas station accepted food stamp cards in exchange for half their value in cash, which recipients would then use to buy cigarettes and booze. The owner, a suspect in the scam, has fled the country.
From today's story:
Police records show a rising amount of food stamp purchases made at the store between January 2009 and October, 2010. Matthews said social services personnel told police that a store the size of the Sunoco business normally would do $1,000 to $2,000 worth of food stamp business per month. But the notes show the store did $6,734 in food stamp business in January 2009, $14,973 in June 2009, $46,852 in January 2010 and nearly $60,000 last month.
Matthews said an undercover operative collected small amounts of cash at the business starting this past March and saw the totals blossom as the investigation proceeded.
A telling detail: The gas station's blossoming trade in government largesse didn't raise any eyebrows until an arrestee tipped police off. (An earlier story had state and federal officials squabbling over who should take credit for the bust.)
Matthews said police began an investigation into the food stamp scam after being told about it by a man they arrested in late December for stealing items from the YMCA on Broadway in Kingston.
What would a gas station owner do with $1 million worth of food stamps? Get reimbursed by the government, naturally. A story about a similar bust in Seattle last month lays out the sound (if illegal) business plan for making wads of dough off food-stamp fraud, and suggests that 50 cents on the dollar may be the going rate coast-to-coast.
With more Americans on food stamps this year than ever before in the program's history -- 14 percent of the country, the Wall Street Journal says -- there are bound to be a few bad apples. Do you suspect that food stamp fraud might be happening in your community? The New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance says you should call the USDA: 1-800-424-9121.
