Norfolk, Va. – A Norfolk longshoreman was sentenced to prison and ordered to pay over $1,000,000 on September 9.
Dwayne Carter was sentenced to 29 months in prison for conspiracy to engage in food stamp benefits fraud.
Carter pleaded guilty of food stamp fraud on April 27, 2015.
Carter has to pay $1,928,633.10 in restitution, the amount his family received from the USDA/FNS SNAP Program, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS).
Court documents say that Carter’s family owned Merrimac Market in Norfolk, Virginia.
The market participated in the Food Stamp and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) since April 1993.
For over three years, the Carters used debit funds from the Merrimac Market from customers who presented and swiped their EBT cards.
The cashier paid customers half of the amount that had been debited in cash.
The family debited funds off of a card in multiple transactions over a period of time so they would not get caught.
James Robert Carter was convicted earlier this year and was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $2,275,889.59.
