Oh, Snap..

 

A former U.S. Department of Agriculture employee will spend nearly two years in prison for her insider role in a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food assistance fraud scheme that bilked the government out of more than $66 million. 
“Arlasa Davis exploited her role as a government employee to enrich herself while undermining a program designed to help New York families in need,” said Sean Buckley, deputy U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.  

Court documents stated Davis worked in the USDA’s division responsible for detecting and stopping SNAP fraud. Davis used her access to steal EBT license numbers. The group used these numbers to conduct the fraudulent SNAP transactions, according to court filings.

Davis would take photos of handwritten lists of valid license numbers and send them to her co-conspirators. They would then use the stolen credentials to obtain EBT terminals for unapproved businesses, including smoke shops and other retailers not authorized to accept SNAP benefits.

Also charged in the scheme was Michael Kehoe, Mohamad Nawafleh, Omar Alrawashdeh, Gamal Obaid and Emad Alrawashdeh. Prosecutors said Kehoe, no apparent relation to Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, was the ringleader of the group.