WASHINGTON (TNND) — Federal agents backed by Los Angeles police swarmed a party supply store along Skid Row in Los Angeles as part of an alleged SNAP fraud investigation that ended with an arrest. Authorities arrested 30-year-old Jesse Cervantes-Gomez, a cashier accused of paying kickbacks to welfare recipients for bogus purchases and allegedly exchanging SNAP benefits for cash in what was described as a “kickbacks for welfare scam.”
First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli also shared the story, writing on social media, “Fraud doesn’t pay in LA!” In an interview with The National News Desk in June, Essayli also discussed his office’s ramped-up approach to investigating fraud. (TNND)
Federal investigators identified the store as a potential fraud target after noticing it processed more than $730,000 in SNAP purchases over the course of a year. Squad cars shut down the street outside as investigators moved in on the warehouse following months of intelligence gathering. The White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud shared Tuesday’s cover from the California Post that read, “Snap, shackle and popped.”…