$1M snap, pandemic unemployment fraud scheme used 115 stolen ids

Four people, including two Venezuelan citizens, used 115 stolen identities in a $1 million food stamps and pandemic unemployment fraud scheme, the Justice Department said Tuesday. 

Federal prosecutors said the suspects stole the identities from people all across the country, including six children, to obtain supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) benefits in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and pandemic unemployment benefits from Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Washington and Nevada.

The defendants were identified as Joel Vicioso Fernandez, 42, and Raul Fernandez Vicioso, 37, both of Fitchburg, Massachusetts; and Roman Vequiz Fernandez, 32, and Coralba Albarracin Siniva, 24, both Venezuelan nationals living in Leominster, Massachusetts.

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All four purchased the stolen identities of 24 “households” in SNAP applications. The applicants, submitted in the names of over 100 people, were listed as living in two single-family apartments in Providence, Rhode Island.

Raul Fernandez Vicioso, a Dominican citizen, and Joel Vicioso Fernandez allegedly used their own personal information to create fraudulent SNAP benefit accounts that were found commingled among the victim identities in the applications. 

The suspects also provided images of counterfeit passports and passport cards, with metadata that indicated the images were taken inside or within the immediate vicinity of El Primo Restaurant — a restaurant operated by Raul Fernandez Vicioso in Leominster, Massachusetts, federal prosecutors said. 

The SNAP benefits were used to make bulk purchases of food items, including multiple-pound packages of chicken, beef and pork, at various local wholesalers and food markets to stock El Primo Restaurant, authorities said. 

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“With their supplies obtained for free through fraudulent SNAP benefits, they prepared and then sold menu items at El Primo Restaurant at a complete profit, later wiring the fraud proceeds, among other places, to individuals living in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic,” the Justice Department said. 

In addition, between April 2020 and December 2021, the four defendants allegedly collected $700,000 by submitting fraudulent Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) applications in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Nevada.

At least 29 different identities were allegedly used in PUA applications, all of which listed the address for El Primo Restaurant as the residential address. Around $276,021 in fraudulent PUA benefits were deposited into bank accounts held in the names of the El Primo Restaurant, Raul Fernandez Vicioso, Joel Vicioso Fernandez and other co-conspirators, prosecutors said. 

During searches of Raul Fernandez Vicioso’s home and the restaurant, investigators found fraudulently obtained Massachusetts and Rhode Island EBT cards, fraudulent documents bearing a Providence address involved in the alleged scheme, printed ledgers and handwritten lists of more than 100 identities and SNAP-related mailings were recovered.

All four defendants are charged with conspiracy to use, transfer, acquire and possess SNAP benefits. Raul Fernandez Vicioso, 37, is charged with conspiracy to commit SNAP fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, SNAP benefit fraud, aiding and abetting and money laundering. 

The remaining three are charged with conspiracy to use, transfer, acquire and possess SNAP benefits.