"The 12 charged over four cases are Hasan Saleh, 59, Mohammed Alobaisi, 37, Reynold Francois, 38, Ihab
Hassouna, 44, Mohammad Alteen, 33, Maria Jerdana, 36, Joe Ann Baker, 56,
Yousef “Joe” Homedan Zahran, 60, Omar Hajje, 43, Jalal Hajyousef, 42,
Andy Javier Herrera, 24, and [his] father Javier Herrera, 49."
10/1/17, "What $20 million in alleged food stamp fraud bought these 12 people: prosecution," Miami Herald, David J. Neal
"South Florida reached another fraud milestone for what the Justice
Department called “the largest combined financial fraud loss for a food
stamp trafficking takedown in history.”
That dubious new record, federal
prosecutors claim, is $20 million and resulted in a dozen charged with...food stamp fraud, wire fraud and
conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
The 12 charged over four cases are
Hasan Saleh, 59, Mohammed Alobaisi, 37, Reynold Francois, 38, Ihab
Hassouna, 44, Mohammad Alteen, 33, Maria Jerdana, 36, Joe Ann Baker, 56,
Yousef “Joe” Homedan Zahran, 60, Omar Hajje, 43, Jalal Hajyousef, 42,
Andy Javier Herrera, 24, and [his] father Javier Herrera, 49.
“In this instance, eight small
convenience stores in South Florida committed a staggering amount of
fraud in a relatively short amount of time,” said Karen Citizen-Wilcox,
special agent in charge, U.S. Department of Agriculture-Office of the
Inspector General, in a release. “These retailers created an illegal
benefits exchange system that defrauded the American taxpayer and denied
healthy foods to needy children and their families. The store owners
who allegedly orchestrated this trafficking scheme pocketed millions in
‘fees’ which they charged for converting food assistance benefits into
cash.”
Some of the defendants owned, worked at or operated stores authorized
to accept Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program payments, known
as SNAP. Others worked at stores not authorized, but allegedly used the
point-of-sale terminals for stores that were authorized.
The fraud happened like this,
according to authorities: A store clerk swipes a person’s electronic
benefits card at a point-of-sale terminal for a large amount. The person
with the card is paid a lesser amount in cash. The remainder is
ill-gotten profit for the store owner....
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, state and federal law
enforcement conducted a joint identity theft investigation involving
obtaining SNAP EBT cards with the stolen identities. According to the
sheriff's office, the fraudulently obtained EBT cards were taken to the
Opa Locka Flea Market where the SNAP (food stamp or EBT) benefits
allocated to them were exchanged for cash. Twenty two people have been
charged with crimes.
Saleh managed Four Corners convenience store, 821 NW Sixth St. in
Fort Lauderdale, which wasn’t authorized to take SNAP payments.
Prosecutors say Saleh and other Four Corners employees used the
point-of-sale terminals at Liberty City’s Sparkle, 6530 NW 18th Ave.,
run by Alobaisi.
Prosecutors say that from April 2015 through this past
August, Saleh, Alobaisi and employees Francois, Hassouna, Alteen,
Jerdana and Baker stole $2 million with the scheme.
Case No. 2 involved Zahran, also
known as Youssef Hussein, who worked at Pompano Beach’s Community Food
Store, 401 NW 27th Ave. He is being accused of being on the fraud train a
relatively short time, Nov. 3, 2016, through Jan. 11.
Hajje and Hajyousef owned Steve
Market 2 and Yum-Yum’s grocery, stores across the street from each other
at 6804 NW 15th Ave. and 6813 NW 15th Ave. in Miami’s Liberty City
neighborhood. They allegedly fraudulently acquired $4.2 million.
But federal prosecutors give the
money title, $10 million, to the Herreras, who also allegedly ran their
game longer than everyone else — April 2012 through last month. Andy
owned Santa Ana Market II, 1832 NW 17th Ave. in Miami. Father Javier
worked there and Santa Ana Market, 3000 NW 12th Ave. Javier has
convictions for third-degree grand theft and lottery violations on his
rap sheet."
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