Grocery store manager stole nearly $5 million, feds say

A man accused of stealing almost $5 million from the govt while running a grocery store in Alabama pleaded responsible to a foods stamp and tax fraud scheme on July 6.

Prosecutors stated he drained the Birmingham store’s lender account of a lot more than $3.7 million by manipulating the nationwide, federally funded foods stamp software from 2014 to 2017, the U.S. Attorney’s Place of work for the Northern District of Alabama mentioned in a July 7 news launch.

Decrease-income family members can receive positive aspects from the Supplemental Nourishment Guidance Plan “so they can order nutritious food items and move to self-sufficiency,” in accordance to the U.S. Office of Agriculture.

Birmingham resident Omar Motley, 42, who managed the Major B Food Mart, ought to repay extra than $4.6 million to the IRS and the USDA right after pleading responsible to wire fraud and tax fraud fees, according to the attorney’s business.

“Motley diverted funds from the system to in the end gain himself,” Lisa Fontanette, the IRS-Felony Investigation assistant exclusive agent in cost, claimed in a assertion.

“On top rated of that, he did not spend taxes revenue which could have more served our citizens.”

McClatchy Information contacted Motley’s attorney for comment on July 8 and was awaiting a response.

Motley owes just about $850,000 to the IRS and additional than $3.8 million to the USDA immediately after he was indicted in March 2021, the information launch explained.

The foods stamp fraud

Through Motley’s situation as the Major B Food items Mart supervisor, he was an approved signatory for the store’s lender account and could function it on his individual, court files point out.

Since the grocery store is a part of the SNAP Method, it can “sell specific eligible food products in trade for foodstuff stamp added benefits,” prosecutors said.

When a consumer employs their meals stamp gains with an electronic reward transfer card, identical to a debit card, the USDA funds “the respective payments of the SNAP reward transactions to the authorized” retailer, according to court documents.

In this situation, the revenue — the program’s advantages redemption payments — went to Big B Foodstuff Mart’s bank account, according to the attorney’s place of work, and Motley “took advantage” of that, Fontanette reported.

From November 2014 to March 2017, Motley would illegally redeem “EBT SNAP advantages for cash and ineligible products,” according to the release.

As a final result, investigators identified that the benefits redeemed at the grocery retail outlet “were 52 moments increased than equally sized merchants in the place,” prosecutors said.

The indictment alleges Motley was aware that his steps violated federal regulation.

The tax fraud

Motley is also accused of offering a wrong tax return to the IRS in 2015 after prosecutors claimed he overstated how considerably Major B Food Mart sold that calendar year, courtroom paperwork point out.

In executing so, prosecutors reported he acquired a big tax minimize and expense the IRS $847,001.

Prosecutors also accused Motley of beneath-reporting how significantly dollars he gained by redeeming SNAP added benefits, the information release reported.

“Motley showed a blatant disregard for other individuals,” Fontanette said and named his guilty plea a “victory” for Birmingham.

His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 8, according to the news release. He faces a potential sentence of up to 23 a long time in prison in complete.