BOSTON – Two Venezuelan nationals pleaded guilty on June 12, 2026 in federal court in Worcester to using fraudulent Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit cards to illegally purchase food to stock a local restaurant. This criminal conduct is a part of a larger fraud scheme that used the stolen identities of more than 100 individuals to obtain $440,000 in SNAP benefits from Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The stolen identities were used to create 24 “households” in SNAP applications. All of these applications, submitted in the names of over 100 people, were listed as living in two single-family apartments in Providence, R.I.
According to the Massachusetts Department of Justice, 32-year-old Roman Vequiz Fernandez, a Venezuelan national and 24-year-old Coralba Albarracin Siniva also a Venezuelan national, both residing and living in Leominster, Mass. have pleaded guilty to use, transfer, acquisition and possession of SNAP benefits in an Unauthorized Manner. U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman scheduled sentencings for Sept. 22, 2026. The defendants were charged in February 2026 along with Joel Vicioso Fernandez and Raul Fernandez Vicioso.
The defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly used the fraudulent SNAP benefits cards to purchase large quantities of expensive bulk food items (such as multiple-pound packages of chicken, beef and pork) at various local wholesalers and food markets to stock El Primo Restaurant at no expense. With their supplies obtained for free through fraudulent SNAP benefits, they prepared and then sold menu items at El Primo Restaurant at a complete profit, later wiring the fraud proceeds, among other places, to individuals living in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic…