EBT fraud? Oh SNAP! No surprise in state awash in welfare cash

SNAP’s EBT cards are supposed to help low-income families buy food, not fund side hustles.But at LA’s Escamex Party Supplies bodega, these benefits allegedly fueled a brisk backroom business.

Jesse Cervantes-Gomez is accused of ringing up big fake purchases on recipients’ cards and handing back roughly half the amount in cold cash.Law enforcement claims that taxpayers footed the bill for “food” that never left the shelf, while fraudsters walked away with spending money.It was welfare as ATM, right in plain sight.One reason the bodega may have attracted the attention of federal law enforcement was how much cash flowed through one unassuming storefront.This low-volume shop somehow allegedly processed $732,608 in SNAP benefits in a year, nearly twice its nearest competitor, with suspiciously large average transactions.

This was the all-important clue.Investigators pegged over $1 million in suspected fraud at this single location.Undercover agents posing as fellow scammers barely had to ask: swipe the card, get the cash, keep a cell number for future “deals.” A second sting netted $3,240 in phony sales yielding $1,740 cash.The alleged operation ran with the breathtaking simplicity.The bust itself was textbook.Federal agents, joined by LAPD officers, swarmed Escamex at the scene, followed by the metallic click of handcuffs on a guy who allegedly thought he was meeting his next mark.Trafficking benefits for cash, and filing false claims for nonexistent groceries, are all explicitly banned under the Food and Nutrition Act.

But that kind of fraud, while daunting in its sheer scale, is no surprise in a state awash in welfare cash.Cervantes-Gomez now faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.Stores caught doing this can and obviously should be booted from SNAP permanently, fined and hit with criminal charges.Recipients who play along risk losing their benefits too.And yet, this wasn’t a lone wolf operation.

The same day’s raids prompted the USDA...