On Tuesday, it was announced that a federal grand jury had charged one defendant with defrauding the federal SNAP program. The indictment explains that the defendant, 59-year-old Guy Randal Stockard, owned and operated the Southern Meat Market in Memphis, Tennessee. The small retail meat market was authorized to accept federal SNAP benefits from customers. Customers could access and redeem their benefits utilizing Electronic Benefits Transfer cards.
During the same period, it is alleged that Stockard used the store to conduct fraudulent SNAP benefit transactions with an approximate overall value of at least $1.2 million. To perpetrate the fraud, the defendant purchased SNAP benefits from his customers at a discount and paid with cash. Then, the defendant redeemed the SNAP benefits at their full monetary value.
Stockard has been charged with a single count of conspiracy to commit SNAP benefit fraud and theft of government property, one count of theft of government property and one count of SNAP benefit fraud. If convicted, Stockard could face a maximum of 20 years in prison. At this point in time, the defendant remains innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. Additional details regarding the charges can be found here.