Massachusetts man sentenced to two years in federal prison for multi-state SNAP and pandemic unemployment assistance fraud

A Massachusetts man was sentenced to two years in federal prison this week for his role in a multi-state conspiracy that used stolen identities to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. 

Raul Fernandez Vicioso, 38, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in March to charges including SNAP fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. A federal judge sentenced him Monday to two years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, according to the Justice Department. Vicioso was also ordered to pay $1.1 million in restitution and an additional $1.1 million in forfeiture.

Prosecutors said Vicioso and three alleged co-conspirators used personal information belonging to more than 100 people to create 24 fraudulent SNAP “households” in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. To apply for the benefits, they used stolen identities from several states — including Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania — and Puerto Rico, and listed two apartments in Providence, Rhode Island, as the households’ addresses.

The group allegedly obtained $440,000 in SNAP benefits, according to February court documents, and used the stolen benefits to buy large quantities of food supplies from wholesalers and markets. Prosecutors said the food was used to stock Vicioso’s restaurant, allowing the group to sell meals for profit and wire the surplus to foreign bank accounts.

“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,” the Justice Department wrote.

The case also involved more than $700,000 in fraudulent Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits obtained from six states during the Covid-19 pandemic. Investigators recovered documents and handwritten lists containing information on more than 100 identities from Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Nevada during searches of Vicioso’s home and restaurant.

“Eligible Massachusetts residents could apply for PUA benefits through an online

portal by providing personally identifiable information, including their first and last name,

Social Security number, date of birth, residential and mailing addresses, and bank account

information,” the case documents read.

The sentencing comes as federal and state officials increasingly look to technology and data sharing to identify benefits fraud.

An April report from public sector IT company Propel, which surveyed more than 8,000 EBT cardholders, found that 18% reported having benefits stolen in the previous year, with some victims losing more than $500. Propel estimates roughly $607 million in benefits were stolen from EBT households last year. 

In July, the U.S. Justice Department expanded its strategy for combating fraud in Medicaid, SNAP and other taxpayer-funded programs by deepening partnerships with state governments aimed at improving data sharing, investigations and fraud detection. Officials said better data sharing could help agencies spot suspicious activity earlier and coordinate cases across jurisdictions.

“Fraudsters thrive on government agencies not partnering, not sharing data, not sharing intelligence,” Colin McDonald, assistant attorney general at the department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, said in a statement. “When federal prosecutors work with state agencies to share leads, data, and strategy, the American people win.”

The department also launched a West Coast Health Care Fraud Strike Force in April, spanning Arizona, Nevada and Northern California, and expanded data-driven healthcare fraud investigations involving state Medicaid agencies. In June, the department announced a partnership with Ohio that includes data-sharing agreements to support fraud investigations.

States are also testing technology designed to prevent benefits from being stolen in the first place. The Aspen Institute is working with four states on a pilot that would use automated monitoring to flag potentially fraudulent EBT transactions and temporarily block them, similar to fraud detection tools used by banks.

As states face greater scrutiny over both SNAP and Medicaid program integrity, agencies are navigating how to balance fraud detection with ensuring legitimate recipients receive the assistance they need.

“One of the things about the overall fraud narrative is that it largely avoids this conversation about what is theft versus individual fraud,” Tim Shaw, director of the Benefits Transformation Initiative at the Aspen Institute, said in an August interview with StateScoop. “A lot of this isn’t about people who are pretending to qualify for a benefit — a lot, if not most, of it is about Americans being targeted by people who want to steal their money.”

The Massachusetts case shows why those efforts increasingly depend on the IT systems states use to administer public benefits. Some states, like Minnesota, are investing in modernization as they prepare for the law’s requirements. Gov. Tim Walz recently signed a new $90 million legislative package to replace the state’s aging IT infrastructure and improve coordination between state and local agencies.