USDA Employee Caught in $66 Million Food Stamp Fraud Scheme [WATCH]

A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) employee and five others have been arrested in connection with a large-scale food stamp fraud operation that federal authorities say siphoned tens of millions of taxpayer dollars from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

The arrests were announced Friday morning.

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins addressed the case during an appearance on FOX Business’ Mornings with Maria, calling the bust “one of the largest stings” in the agency’s history.

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“At USDA, we are hyper-focused… on rooting out that waste, fraud and abuse, and… yesterday was, if not the largest, one of [the] largest stings,” Rollins said.

“This is a new day,” she continued. “And President Trump promised, as he was traveling across the country over the last few years, that it would not be the government that we know.”

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the six defendants — Michael Kehoe, Mohamad Nawafleh, Omar Alrawashdeh, Gamal Obaid, Emad Alrawashdeh, and USDA employee Arlasa Davis — are facing charges tied to a conspiracy to defraud the USDA and misuse benefits through the SNAP program.

Federal prosecutors allege that the scheme began in 2019 when Michael Kehoe began building a network of stores throughout the New York area to illegally process transactions using unauthorized electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards.

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The operation involved at least 160 unauthorized EBT cards and resulted in more than $30 million in illegal transactions.

The overall fraudulent activity totaled more than $66 million, according to federal investigators.

U.S. Attorney Perry Carbone said the conspiracy was enabled by Arlasa Davis, a USDA employee, who allegedly sold confidential government information to members of the fraud ring.

“This fraud was made possible when USDA employee Arlasa Davis betrayed the public trust by selling confidential government information to the very criminals she was supposed to catch,” Carbone stated in a press release.

“Their actions undermined a program that vulnerable New Yorkers depend on for basic nutrition.”

“These charges should be a reminder that those who exploit anti-poverty programs for personal gain will be held accountable for their crimes,” he added.

The indictment also alleges that the group submitted fraudulent USDA applications, misused license numbers, and in some instances altered application documents to authorize stores that were not eligible to process SNAP benefits.

Secretary Rollins emphasized that the USDA will continue to pursue further enforcement actions in coordination with the FBI and the Department of Justice.

“That is no longer going to be allowed here in Washington, and with these programs like the food stamp program. So we’re going to move forward, obviously in partnership with the FBI, with the Department of Justice, of course our team at USDA,” Rollins said.

“This is not the ‘one and only.’ There are going to be many more to come, and we’re gonna make sure that we’re delivering on our promises to the taxpayers.”

“It’s just the tip of the spear,” Rollins added.

“We’re trying to lock it down right now to ensure that it doesn’t keep happening. But when you’ve got employees that basically don’t follow the law, then we’ve got to fix it, and that’s what we’re doing.”

“There’s going to be real consequences for breaking the law across America’s federal government with President Trump,” she said, “but this is just one of many more to come.”

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