Not sure how long Gomer Lopez Meireles was illegally living in the United States. But it was long enough for him to develop a scheme to steal more than $213,000 in benefits from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). A federal government program designed for low and no-income Americans to are unable to provide food for themselves or their families.
Starting in September of 2021 to November of 2023, Lopez Meireles and his co-conspirators submitted hundreds of fraudulent online applications for SNAP benefits, using stolen identities and social security numbers. All the applications requested that the ill-gotten electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card be mailed to Meireles’s own residence or nearby addresses of his co-conspirators. While Meireles did use some of the cards to make purchases for himself, he also sold many of those cards for cash. And he sent that cash to friends and family in the Dominican Republic. It’s easy to be generous and industrious when the money is not yours! Probably feels like there is nothing to lose. But Meireles did lose.
On September 27, 2024, Meireles was sentenced to two years in federal prison and ordered to full restitution for his role in a conspiracy that defrauded the United States Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Great job by the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Office of Inspector General and the Rhode Island Office of Internal Audit – Fraud Detection & Prevention Unit in the investigation of this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “A Providence man is sentenced to 2 years in federal prison in SNAP benefits fraud scheme” published by the Boston Glob on September 27, 2024
A Providence man was sentenced Thursday to two years in federal prison for his part in a scheme to steal more than $213,000 in food assistance benefits using other people’s identities and Social Security numbers, prosecutors said.
Giomar Lopez Meireles, 41, a Dominican national who was unlawfully living in the United States at the time of his arrest last year, was sentenced to 24 months of incarceration and three years of subsequent supervised release by a federal judge, according to a statement from US Attorney Zachary Cunha’s Office. In May, Lopez Meireles pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud; illegal acquisition or use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits; and unlawful possession of a firearm, an official said.