ERIE, Pa. -- Federal agents, along with local and state police, converged on several Erie, Pa., convenience stores on Wednesday, part of a food stamp and welfare fraud investigation lasting more than a year, reported WICU. They claim that the owners defrauded taxpayers out of more than $1 million.
The federal agents served a search warrant at the Ash Street Market in Erie, said the report, one of five convenience stores raided by police, along with a couple of homes and vehicles.
In all, police served nine search warrants.
A federal investigation uncovered that the store owner would pay 50 cents on the dollar for benefit cards. For example, if someone had a $300 food stamp benefit card, the owner of the store would pay $150 cash for it, and then collect $300 from the government. The person who sold the card would then use the cash for whatever they wanted, instead of food and other necessities designated by the program.
Federal agents from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) led the investigation, along with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Homeland Security agents. State Police and Erie police assisted the investigation.
Police also recovered five pounds of marijuana from inside the Ash Street Market and recovered five guns, the report said. A separate investigation is now underway by Erie police.
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