Store Owner Sentenced To Prison For Food Stamp Fraud

PHILADELPHIA - Dewey McNair, 54 of Philadelphia, PA, was sentenced yesterday to 21 months in prison for illegally exchanging food stamp benefits for cash at his West Philadelphia fish store, Bottom of the Sea.  Dewey McNair is the owner of Lancaster Avenue Seafood Inc., which operated a seafood store called Bottom of the Sea.  McNair has admitted that, over the fourteen month period from October 2011 through November 2012, he paid cash to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits ("SNAP") recipients in exchange for benefits, knowing that to do so was illegal..

In addition to the prison term, United States District Judge Berle M. Schiller ordered McNair to pay restitution of $120,000 to the United States Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Services.

The case was investigated by the United States Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth Abrams.