The conspirators would buy WIC vouchers for even less, sometimes as low as 15 cents on the dollar.ĥ4 defendants, including the Sapps, were charged together for their roles in organizing, running and operating the phony grocery stores set up throughout the state. Typically, the conspirators would buy Food-Stamp benefits from participants for 50 cents on the dollar. The defendants purchased the WIC and Food Stamp benefits for cash at a fraction of the amount they received from the USDA by redeeming the benefits they had purchased. Once the stores were opened and stocked with enough prop foods to pass WIC and SNAP inspections, many of the defendants canvassed low-income neighborhoods and solicited WIC and Food Stamp participants to illegally exchange their benefits not for food, but for cash. Both the WIC and Food Stamp programs are administered through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and paid for by federal tax dollars.Īccording to evidence presented during the trial and numerous guilty plea hearings, the Sapps conspired with numerous others to open 14 phony grocery stores in Savannah, Macon, Atlanta, Garden City, Lithonia, LaGrange, Stone Mountain, Riverdale, and elsewhere for the purpose of buying WIC and Food Stamp benefits for cash. It is unlawful to exchange WIC or Food Stamp benefits for cash. The Food Stamp program, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), provides “Food Stamp” benefits to low-income families through Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards, which are similar to debit cards. Participants in the WIC program receive 3-month supplies of WIC vouchers, which they can exchange at authorized stores for the healthy foods listed on the vouchers. Georgia’s Women, Infants and Children Program (WIC) provides healthy foods to low-income pregnant and postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age 5 who are nutritionally at risk.

To date, all 88 defendants have pled guilty. In June of 2014, The Sapps were indicted along with 86 other defendants in one of the largest WIC and Food-Stamp frauds ever prosecuted in the United States.

The Sapps are currently awaiting sentencing. However, after 2 days of testimony, they changed their pleas to guilty and the jury was dismissed. The Sapps initially exercised their rights to a jury trial. to running a criminal organization that defrauded the WIC and Food Stamp programs of approximately $20 million. SAVANNAH, GEORGIA- Brandon and Kimberly Sapp, husband and wife from Atlanta, Georgia, pled guilty last week before United States District Judge William T. 88 Defendants Have Now Pled Guilty In One Of The Largest

Wic items at kroger