Two convenience store owners in Boston are facing federal charges after investigators allege they ran a years-long scheme to illegally swap Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for cash — a practice known as benefits trafficking — generating more than $7 million in suspected fraudulent redemptions.
Federalprosecutors in Massachusetts have charged Antonio Bonheur, the owner of Jesula Variety Store, and Saul Alisme, who operates Saul Mache Mixe Store, with food stamp fraud connected to separate undercover transactions alleged to have taken place in October 2025. Both stores are located in the same building on Blue Hill Avenue in Mattapan — a detail investigators say helped them piece together the scale of the suspected operation.
Investigators said they began looking closely at the stores after noticing SNAP redemption totals that appeared wildly out of step with their size and capacity. Jesula Variety Store is roughly 150 square feet and reportedly lacks features common to legitimate high-volume grocers, including shopping carts, baskets, optical scanners, and refrigeration — limitations authorities say would make it difficult to process large food purchases day after day.
Despite that, prosecutors allege Bonheur’s store redeemed more than $6.9 million in SNAP benefits between 2021 and 2025, including a large share of transactions exceeding $150. Court filings also cite comparisons showing similarly classified grocery stores in the same ZIP code averaged about $16,000 per month in SNAP redemptions…