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CHICAGO - A Chicago man who fraudulently obtained more than $1.5 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits has been sentenced to more than four years in prison, federal officials said.
What we know:
David Quinones, 45, gave cash or other items to SNAP recipients in exchange for access to their Link cards between 2018 and 2023, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said Quinones used the cards to purchase goods at authorized retail stores while falsely representing himself as the cards’ authorized user.
He later resold most of the goods and kept the proceeds, officials said.
In total, Quinones used more than 1,200 cards and fraudulently caused the U.S. Department of Agriculture to pay out $1,554,804 in SNAP benefits, prosecutors said.
The backstory:
Quinones pleaded guilty last year to a federal wire fraud charge.
On March 9, he was sentenced to four years and four months in prison and ordered to pay $1,554,804 in restitution.
The Source: The information in this article was provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois.