Store Employee Sentenced For Defraudng Government Food Assistance Program

HILADELPHIA – Mohammed Abuawada, 27, of Philadelphia, was sentenced yesterday afternoon to 18 months in prison for defrauding the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the food stamp program. The defendant pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic in SNAP benefits and commit wire fraud; wire fraud; and aiding and abetting trafficking in SNAP benefits.

The defendant operated S&S Farmer’s Market, a retail grocery store, now defunct, that was located at 2722 Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia.  At his guilty plea hearing, the defendant admitted that he knowingly assisted the store’s owners in trafficking in SNAP benefits, by withdrawing large sums of cash from the store’s bank accounts to fund the fraud.  The defendant admitted that within a three-month period, he withdrew approximately $209,000 in cash in order to assist the fraud against USDA, which was carried out by purchasing SNAP benefits from store customers for cash, which is illegal.

In addition to the prison term, Senior U.S. District Court Judge John R. Padova ordered restitution of $209,000 to USDA, three years of supervised release to follow imprisonment, and directed that the defendant not own or operate any company that accepts SNAP benefits while on supervised release.  He must surrender to begin serving his prison term on October 19, 2015.

The case was investigated by the United States Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations.  It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mary E. Crawley.