South Carolina Ping 
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Posted on 03/15/2018 6:23:43 PM PDT by Gamecock
COLUMBIA, SC
A Columbia man was sentenced to prison and must pay more than $1,000,000 in restitution for his role in the theft of food stamp money.
Christopher O’Berry, 43, was sentenced to 27 months in prison for theft of government money, according to U.S. Attorney Beth Drake. O’Berry was also ordered to pay $1,039,981.75 in restitution to the United States.
O’Berry operated Cynthia’s Soul Food Deli (formerly Food World), which was located near the intersection of St. Andrews Road and Broad River Road.
It served food, but was also registered to receive SNAP benefits as payment for food items. SNAP is commonly known as the food stamp program, assists low-income families and individuals purchase food.
Drake's office said this arrangement posed two issues. First, SNAP does not pay for prepared food. Second, the restaurant did not stock sufficient food to justify the purchases recorded under SNAP.
O’Berry allowed beneficiaries to make small purchases through SNAP but processed them as much larger amounts, according to Drake's office. He would then pay some cash to the beneficiary and keep some for himself.
The investigation traced proceeds of the theft to a Woodforest National Bank account controlled by O’Berry, where he deposited $956,006.90 between May 2011 and December 2014, Drake's office said. He then withdrew $158,187 in cash and transferred $714,032 to his own accounts. The rest was used to make minimal purchases for the store.
“SNAP is an important source of critical funding to South Carolinians most in need, including the elderly and young families," Drake said in a news release. "When the unscrupulous or dishonest defraud the program — and that includes businesses and recipients of SNAP benefits — they are both stealing from the tax payers and eroding a program that does a lot of good."
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Interesting. An Irish soul food store...
Rampant in convenience stores.
South Carolina Ping
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$1 million. How many wall sections is that?
HOORAY U.S. Attorney Beth Drake.
LOCK THEM UP!
MAGA
Irish Amish.
This is one of the most common crimes in America and it costs the taxpayers billions of dollars every year. It is very common in inner-city businesses where residents can use the stores and their “food stamps” as an ATM at 25-50% on the dollar.
“they are both stealing from the tax payers and eroding a program that does a lot of good.”
I assume that half or more of the “good” is siphoned off in
cash out schemes like this, with a lot to foreigners and Islamic jihad. The liquor stores, dope dealers, nd pimps do benefit.
Just one of many, out there.
I was thinking ‘Black Irish’.
It has been said over and over that at least 47% of Americans (an of course ILLEGALS) are depended upon government. Who do they ALWAYS vote for? Our country is a house of cards of entitlement, debt and societal rot.
“Christopher O’Berry, 43, was sentenced to 27 months in prison for theft of government money, according to U.S. Attorney Beth Drake.”
ONLY 27 MONTHS? And just how is this turd going to pay back the million bucks. shining shoes?
Excuuuuse me?
I am black Irish...Happy Saint Paddy’s Day!!
Food stamp recipients tell me about going to the grocery, buying the finest cuts of beef with their stamps and reselling the steaks in their neighborhood for 50 cents on the dollar.
Certain gas station/convenience stores will sell cigarettes and charge the price to a food stamp recipient’s card. Not sure how that works. Probably similar to the ATM scam.
“The people I see using EBT is absolutely despicable. Many times I have seen people flip by actual CASH and ATM to pull out the EBT for which I/We are essentially paying for.”
I recently saw an obese “Woman of Color,” pay for all her groceries with an EBT card, then pull out a wad of cash to pay for the bottle of Chevas Regal she was also buying. It’s long past time for the American taxpayers, the people who work for a living, to be taken out of the traces. If you’re too dumb to survive, it should be survival of the fittest (little children excepted). Let the natural selection process take over and weed out the millions of “crap people” (and foreign governments) who have attached themselves to our financial “a$$es” like a bunch of Remoras with the able assistance of our government. We have, as a country, made being a bum too easy for too many.
My question is how do people who need them for actual food somehow want go and cash them out for half value. That sure sounds like one desperate monkey on some backs.
want to go
The answer is empty souls.
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