Press Release
Operators of Atlanta Stores Enter Guilty Pleas to WIC and SNAP Fraud
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Georgia
ATLANTA - Rodney Byrd and Reginald Byrd have pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit food stamp fraud. The defendants used a series of stores in the Atlanta area to unlawfully purchase over $5.7 million in vouchers of the Georgia Women, Infants and Children (“WIC”) program and debit cards of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”).
“These defendants stole from a program designed to provide nutritional items to needy members of our community,” said Acting U.S. Attorney John Horn. “The scheme induced customers to forego infant formula and other necessary products in exchange for cash at less than face value of the vouchers. They put their own financial profit above the physical needs of low-income mothers and children.”
“The individuals who choose to defraud taxpayers through trafficking schemes will continue to be aggressively investigated by USDA-OIG and its law enforcement partners. Greed and arrogance drives people like the Byrds’ to feel like they are undetectable in a system where thousands of stores participate in assistance programs like SNAP and WIC. Their guilty plea should be a warning to others that you will be caught, and you will be prosecuted,” stated Karen Citizen-Wilcox, Special Agent-in-Charge with USDA-OIG- Investigations.
“The integrity of the WIC and SNAP programs must be protected from fraud and abuse by the vendors who seek to illegally profit by violating the standards established for these programs,” stated Veronica F. Hyman-Pillot, IRS Criminal Investigation, Special Agent in Charge. “This was a case of greed, deceit, manipulation and theft directed by the Byrd brothers in order to enrich themselves with ill-gotten gains. The North Georgia Financial Task Force are proud to contribute their financial expertise in unraveling financial transactions to ensure that those who engage in these illegal activities are vigorously investigated and brought to justice.”
According to Acting U.S. Attorney Horn, the charges and other information presented in court: Rodney Byrd owned and operated Atlanta metropolitan-area stores named “Tweet Baby Tweet,” “Chicos and Chicas Variety Store,” and “Tweets, Treats, and Nic Nacs.” Reginald Byrd managed at least one of these stores. The defendants directed employees of the stores to make cash payments to customers in return for the customers’ WIC vouchers and for the use of the customers’ SNAP debit cards, in violation of the terms of the WIC program and SNAP. The cash payments were at amounts of less than face value, allowing the defendants to generate substantial profits when exchanging the vouchers.
As a result, tens of thousands of WIC vouchers totaling millions of dollars were deposited into bank accounts under the control of Rodney Byrd. A large number of these vouchers were for prescribed infant formula that is supposed to be given to malnourished infants or infants who cannot use traditional formula. Instead of selling products such as this to needy recipients, the defendants and their co-conspirators unlawfully purchased the vouchers for cash. All told, this scheme resulted in an estimated loss to the government of $5,747,817.18.
Sentencing for Rodney Byrd, 39, of Lawrenceville, Ga., and Reginald Byrd, 38, of College Park, Ga., is scheduled for October 13, 2015, at 2:00 p.m., before United States District Judge Leigh Martin May.
This case is being investigated by the United States Department of Agriculture, Office of the Inspector General, and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation.
Assistant United States Attorneys Thomas J. Krepp and Jamie L. Mickelson are prosecuting the case.
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the home page for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.
Updated July 17, 2015
Topic
Financial Fraud
Component