SNAP benefits fraud scheme was busted

By Lance Reynolds
Boston Herald

(Boston Herald) — An alleged scheme that fraudulently obtained nearly $7 million in SNAP benefits was cracked open after the feds arrested two men who are accused of operating the “criminal enterprise” out of tiny retail stores in Boston.

Antonio Bonheur, 74, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Haiti living in Mattapan, and Saul Alisme, 21, a Haitian national residing in Hyde Park, face one count of food stamp fraud in connection with the scheme.

The defendants’ monthly SNAP redemptions allegedly ranged from $100,000 to $500,000 per month, an amount that the feds say is larger than “full-service supermarkets.”

“These men abused one of the government’s most critical safety net programs for their own financial gain,” Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said during a press conference. “This is taxpayer money meant to keep people from going hungry. These defendants decided to take it for themselves. These defendants exchanged SNAP benefits for cash, which they pocketed.”

Bonheur and Alisme allegedly ran their operation out of Jesula Variety Store and Saul Mache Mixe Store, both of which they ran as small variety stores within a single street-facing storefront in Mattapan.

SNAP benefits fraud scheme was busted

Jesula Variety Store, which Bonheur allegedly owned, totaled just 150 square feet, and Saul Mache Mixe Store, which Alisme allegedly owned, occupied 500 square feet.

Foley noted that a typical supermarket can range from 20,000 to 60,000 square feet, have more than a dozen registers, and employ numerous workers. But Bonheur and Alisme’s stores had “one register, no carriages, no hand baskets, and very little food for sale.”

Foley also highlighted how “one legitimate supermarket in the same area as these stores redeems approximately $80,000 in SNAP benefits per month.”

“It would be a huge stretch to even call them convenience stores,” Foley said. “In fact, the only thing convenient about these stores was how easy it was to commit SNAP benefit fraud.”

“Their storefronts were not even large enough to support a legitimate food pantry,” she added. “When someone turns the equivalent of that poorly stocked inventory into a cash exchange turnstile for federal benefits, they are stealing from every taxpayer, and from every family that legitimately relies on this program.”

Charging documents include transaction data from the enterprise, showing how only 10% of SNAP transactions amounted to less than $40, while more than 70% of transactions exceeded $95. Those patterns are also “typically associated with large supermarkets,” according to the feds.

SNAP benefits fraud scheme was busted

Jesula Variety Store began accepting SNAP benefits in September 2021, according to charging documents. Bonheur is accused of fraudulently applying for SNAP benefits in 2022, claiming to have zero income, but he failed to list his ownership of the business.

Beginning in 2022, Bonheur allegedly collected SNAP benefits, often conducting transactions at Jesula Variety Store, exceeding $95.

Alisme applied for Saul Mache Mixe Store to be an authorized SNAP retailer on Feb. 14 this year, with the business beginning to accept benefits around May, according to the feds.

“During undercover operations conducted at both businesses over the course of the investigation,” a release from Foley’s office states, “SNAP benefits were allegedly trafficked for cash on four occasions from Jesula Variety Store and on two occasions from Saul Mache Mixe Store.”

“In each instance,” the release adds, “the defendants themselves allegedly worked the cash registers and personally exchanged SNAP benefits for cash. Both stores were also allegedly observed selling liquor in exchange for SNAP benefits.”

The charge of food stamp fraud greater than $100 can lead to a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.