A Chicago man, David Quinones, 44, of Chicago, pleaded guilty on a federal wire fraud charge in connection with stealing more than $1.5 million from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by using over 1,200 cards.<\/p>\n
Quinones admitted that from 2018 to 2023, he gave cash or other items to SNAP recipients in exchange for access to their Link cards and associated identification numbers. He then used the cards to purchase various goods at retail stores, fraudulently representing himself as the authorized user of the cards. After purchasing the goods, he resold most of them and kept the proceeds for himself.<\/p>\n
Quinones used more than 1,200 cards and fraudulently caused the USDA to pay out approximately $1,554,804 in SNAP benefits.<\/p>\n
Quinones faces up to 20 years in federal prison and his sentencing date is scheduled for June 18.<\/p>\n
The case serves as a reminder of the importance of protecting sensitive information and ensuring that government programs are used for their intended purpose.<\/p>\n
* What is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)?
\nSNAP is a federal program that provides financial assistance to low-income individuals and families to help them purchase food.
\n* What is the purpose of the USDA?
\nThe United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is responsible for ensuring the health and well-being of Americans by providing food assistance programs, among other things.
\n* What is the penalty for fraud in this case?
\nQuinones faces up to 20 years in federal prison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chicago Man Pleads Guilty After Fraudulently Using Over 1,200 SNAP Cards; $1.5M Stolen Background A Chicago man, David Quinones, 44, of Chicago, pleaded guilty on a federal wire fraud charge in connection with stealing more than $1.5 million from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by using over 1,200 cards. The Scheme Quinones admitted that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13709","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-reports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wgntv.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/09\/GettyImages-1205050194-e1727116913367.jpg?w=800&w=800&resize=800,534&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13709"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13709"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13711,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13709\/revisions\/13711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}