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A Minnesota woman who defrauded the federal government out of more than $325,000 in federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits was sentenced last week to a year in prison.
Latasha Thomas, 39, was convicted on one count of mail fraud and will owe restitution to the United States Department of Agriculture, announced U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen on Friday.
Latasha Thomas conspired with her daughter, Ambrosia Thomas, and another relative, Cynthia Thomas, over two years to unlawfully acquire Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards, which are issued by the state government to qualifying applicants and loaded monthly with money from SNAP, the Justice Department said.
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The trio created fake Minnesota temporary drivers’ licenses using false names, with each license picturing one of the Thomases, federal prosecutors said.
The fake licenses were submitted to Hennepin County in applications for EBT cards. Believing their SNAP allotments could be increased if the purported recipients were confined to bedrest, the Thomases repeatedly claimed to be women experiencing a “high risk pregnancy,” prosecutors said.
In addition, they submitted fake doctor’s notes in an effort to maximize their theft of government funds.
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The EBT cards were sent by the state to Cynthia Thomas’s apartment in Roseville. She allegedly lived there under a false name—Sofia Gold—that appears on one of the scheme’s ill-begotten cards.
When authorities searched the apartment, they found several pieces of mail addressed to pseudonyms used in the scheme.
In the inside part of the apartment building’s mailbox—accessible only to building management and mail carriers—law enforcement found notes indicating that mail should be delivered to Cynthia’s apartment for several of the pseudonyms used in the scheme, authorities said.
The trio withdrew government funds from ATMs and used them to make purchases. They also marketed and sold the use of the EBT cards to others, arranging for their customers to pick up an EBT card, use an agreed-upon portion of its monthly allotment, then return the card.
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The customers agreed to pay the conspirators a fee, usually 50-60%, for the privilege.
After serving her sentence, Thomas was ordered to repay $325,159 in restitution to the United States Department of Agriculture.
Cynthia Thomas was convicted last year for mail fraud conspiracy and was sentenced in December to probation for three years, Alpha News reported. Ambrosia Thomas has agreed to plead guilty to mail fraud, according to the news outlet, and her case is still in the pre-sentencing process.
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