Worcester biz owner admits to $282K in food stamp fraud
WORCESTER – On March 9, 2016, an undercover federal investigator walked into Esther’s Fashion Paradise, a pink-colored business on Main Street, to gather evidence that the owner had been stealing food stamp funds.
The investigator brought a soda and a knockoff Michael Kors purse from the store’s inventory to the counter. According to his affidavit, he then mentioned to the owner, Esther Acquaye, about a shop owner down the street going to jail for exchanging cash for food stamps.
Ms. Acquaye, the investigator said, responded that she did not want to go to jail because she had kids. The investigator stated, “I got you” – inferring he wouldn’t snitch – and asked for $50 cash; she then gave him the cash, the $55 bag and the $1 soda for $151 in government food stamp money.
The $45 Ms. Acquaye pocketed that day was a fraction of the nearly $300,000 she admitted to stealing Thursday in U.S. District Court. The 49-year-old Ghana native, due to be sentenced in March, faces a possible federal prison sentence and deportation, as she is in the United States on a green card.
Read more: http://www.telegram.com/news/20171207/worcester-biz-owner-admits-to-282k-in-food-stamp-fraud
= new reply since forum marked as read
