| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
Louisville business owner convicted of defrauding USDA Program Owner of the Meat Store convicted of Food Stamp Fraud at end of four day trial. "During the course of the investigation, USDA and FBI sent two undercovers into the Meat Store to attempt to sell SNAP benefits for cash. Between September 1, 2015, and July 12, 2016, the two undercovers exchanged SNAP benefits for cash with defendant Estephane at the Meat Store on nine different occasions, eight of which were captured on video. Sometimes the undercovers would present multiple SNAP EBT cards in different names and request cash from all of them." - From Full STORY From U.S. Attorney's Office U.S. Department of Justice, Western District of Kentucky LOUISVILLE, KY - (Fri 10 Nov 2017) - The former owner of a Louisville specialty food store was convicted in United States District Court yesterday, before Senior Judge Thomas B. Russell, of Food Stamp fraud, following a four day jury trial announced United States Attorney Russell M. Coleman. Elias Estephane was the owner of the Meat Store located at 1066 South 28th Street and the Meat Store 2 located at 4835 Poplar Level Road. Both were specialty food stores focusing on meats and both were accepted as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or Food Stamp retailers. SNAP is a program administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide food-purchasing assistance to low-income individuals through the issue of (EBT) cards to recipients. Evidence at trial showed that on multiple occasions Estephane traded cash for SNAP benefits, in violation of program rules that only permit benefits to be exchanged for eligible food items. Estephane generally paid customers fifty cents on the dollar for their benefits. In 2015, the USDA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began investigating the Meat Store's redemption of SNAP benefits. They targeted the Meat Store because it had a significantly higher level of redemption of SNAP benefits compared to similar stores in the area. Specifically, the Meat Store's month-to-month SNAP redemptions in 2015 were around 20 times the average redemptions from similar stores in the same geographic area. During the course of the investigation, USDA and FBI sent two undercovers into the Meat Store to attempt to sell SNAP benefits for cash. Between September 1, 2015, and July 12, 2016, the two undercovers exchanged SNAP benefits for cash with defendant Estephane at the Meat Store on nine different occasions, eight of which were captured on video. Sometimes the undercovers would present multiple SNAP EBT cards in different names and request cash from all of them. During the trial, the United States submitted surveillance video of the Meat Store from four different days then compared transaction data with the video, flagging instances in which people spent $100 or more but left the store holding only one bag. Further the United States had five customer witnesses and one former employee testify. Sentencing is scheduled before Senior Judge Russell in February 2018. Estephane faces up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, restitution and a fine of up to $10,000. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Amanda E. Gregory and Stephanie M. Zimdahl, with the assistance of paralegal Mary Kennedy, and was investigated by U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). This story was posted on 2017-11-11 04:00:23
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic News:
KY modern gun deer season opens statewide Sat 8 Nov 2017 Thanksgiving Service at Milltown UMC - 12 Nov 2017 (Pd Ad) - Rotary Club Radio Auction 13-14 Nov 2017 Harper given Planning & Zoning approval for development Mitzi Bault: I'm a Proud Daughter of WWII Veteran with his story Hood Lodge Deer Hunters Breakfast is Sat 11 Nov 2017 KSP investigating robbery, car theft, and multi-county chase Election 2018 - 4 file for offices on 2nd day 9 Nov 2017 Lost kitty shows up at Adair County Public Library Adair FFA places 12th in nation in national quiz contest View even more articles in topic News |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
