The Department of Justice on Thursday announced charges against nine individuals accused of fraudulently obtaining government benefits totaling nearly $1 million. Six of the suspects are purportedly Dominican nationals illegally present in the United States.
Brought by U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Leah Foley, the charges come as part of the Trump administration’s “crackdown on benefit fraud schemes that exploited stolen identities to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer-funded programs — including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), MassHealth and Social Security benefits,” according to a DOJ press release.
The Justice Department said the announced charges have been brought against the aforementioned individuals residing in Massachusetts and New Hampshire throughout the past nine weeks. Almost “$9 million in benefit fraud” has been unearthed since December of last year, according to the agency.
Among those charged is Danis Piron Lara, a 51-year-old Dominican national who is alleged to have committed “aggravated identity theft, unlawfully obtaining SNAP benefits and making false statements relating to a health care program.” Similar charges were brought against 44-year-old Dominican national John Doe (aka Wilkin Emilio Pimental Pereyra). Oscar Gonzalez Melo, 59, and Cruz Augusta Pena Arias, 58, were also charged with “aggravated identity theft,” among other charges.
All four individuals unlawfully resided in Massachusetts, according to the agency.
Others charged by the DOJ include Erpawi Roque Collado, a lawful permanent resident from the Dominican Republic, and Efrain Rivera, a U.S. citizen from Puerto Rico. The former was hit with a count of “unlawfully obtaining SNAP benefits,” while the latter was charged with “unlawfully obtaining SNAP benefits, misuse of a Social Security number and aggravated identity theft.”
According to Foley’s office, the suspects “used stolen identities — often belonging to U.S. citizens from Puerto Rico — to obtain government-issued identification, including Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) credentials and, in some instances, U.S. passports, which were then used to apply for and receive public benefits.” Roughly $943,197 in public benefit funds were lost as a result of the alleged schemes.
The announcement of the charges came the same day Foley named two prosecutors to lead her new Benefit and Voter Fraud Team. Led by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Philip Mallard and Mark Grady, this task force is expected to investigate potential SNAP fraud, voter fraud, childcare fraud, and other areas of alleged fraud throughout Massachusetts.
“It has become apparent that there are no guardrails in place in Massachusetts to address this rampant fraud, and there is zero accountability. It is time to take benefit fraud seriously,” Foley said in a Thursday press conference.
Thursday’s announcement comes amid purported fraud schemes unearthed in Democrat-run cities and states. The most prominent example is Minnesota, which has become a hotbed for alleged fraud scandals involving the state’s Somali community.
The seemingly growing problem prompted President Trump to appoint Vice President Vance as chair of an anti-fraud task force earlier this month. The group is expected to “develop a comprehensive national strategy against fraud impacting programs administered with state and local governments to provide housing, food, medical and financial assistance,” according to the New York Post.
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